


Are We In Narnia?

by TheLaziestMotherfucker



Series: What Will Happen? [6]
Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, April MacLean POV, Blood, Boys Kissing, Charlie Smith POV, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone has a point of view, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Girls Kissing, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Attempted Suicide, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Matteusz Andrzejewski POV, Mention of Quilliam, POV Female Character, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Pop Culture, Post - Finale, Queer Tanya, Ram Singh POV, Tanya Adeola POV, post 1x08, so many references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-08 21:57:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLaziestMotherfucker/pseuds/TheLaziestMotherfucker
Summary: Months after the events of "The Lost," the Bunghole group are walking home together. As they're passing Coal Hill, the crack through all of space and time opens up beneath them and sends them to another world that strangely bares a resemblance to Narnia. In order to get back home, the five teenagers and their accomplices travel throughout this magical world in the hopes of finding a witch that can open a portal back to London. Will they survive the brutal journey? Will they make it back home?(Warnings: Do not read this unless you have watched the ENTIRE Class series. This contains spoilers! I will add that you do not need to read the rest of my series in order to understand this fic, but I would recommend that you do so anyway.) :)





	1. First Of All, Where Are We? Second Of All, How Do We Get Back Home?

**Author's Note:**

> This is the longest fic that I have ever written! I decided to keep this with the rest of my series that takes place after the Class finale. I hope you enjoy it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Charlie's point of view is so long in this chapter because I intended to write a chapter in every character's point of view, but I changed my mind while writing it. Every chapter (except the last one) consists of multiple point of views from the rest of the characters, it is not strictly one character that tells the story.

Charlie heard voices. Fuzzy voices, but they were slowly becoming more focused. He opened his eyes and was greeted by a light that was far to bright to be comfortable. He saw blurry figures, ones that were slowly coming into focus as as he blinked. "Charlie!" The voices were shouting at him. He felt two hands cupping his face. He blinked a few more times to help clear his vision. They eventually cleared up enough so he was able to figure out who it was.

Matteusz, Ram, April, and Tanya were all sitting next to him in a circle, looking down at him with concerned expressions on all of their faces. He grunted as he slowly sat up on the ground. Why was he so cold? Why were the backs of his legs wet? "What happened?" He asked, running his fingers over the back of his head. He could feel a lump beginning to form.

"Another crack opened. Or at least, I think it was a crack. I didn't see," Tanya answered, standing up on her feet. She looked around at the rest of them but they didn't know either. "Except this crack, or portal, opened beneath us and now we're stuck in the middle of nowhere."

"You also bumped your head and it knocked you out," Matteusz added from beside him. His boyfriend grabbed his arm by his bicep and carefully pulled him up onto his feet. Matteusz's hand drifted up and to the back of his head. "Is your head alright?"

He nodded, even though he was feeling a bit dizzy now that he was standing. Suddenly he realized that everything that surrounded them was covered in white. They were in a forest, he could see the bark on the trees, but they were covered in some white stuff. "What is this?" He asked, looking up at the sky. Flakes of it were falling down onto them.

"Snow," Ram answered, rolling his eyes. Charlie shrugged his shoulders, still not quite getting what snow was. He did know that it looked beautiful. It sparkled in the sunlight.

"Snow is precipitation in the form of ice crystals," Tanya explained easily.

Charlie was always fascinated by how much Tanya knew. She's incredibly smart. She was able to keep her grades up after losing her mum and while tutoring Ram, April, and Charlie in school. April couldn't attend because of her Shadowkin form. As for Ram and Charlie, they were both struggling to understand some of the course work. It didn't help that they were all suffering from lack of sleep due to nightmares.

Charlie hated school now. He used to love it, except he never liked Quill's class, but he used to love it. Now he can't stand it. Every morning he wakes up with a heavy feeling of dread in his chest and when he arrives at Coal Hill it quickly turns into hatred, a hatred that is directed towards himself. That school was where it all happened. It was where he killed April, it was where he committed genocide, and it was where he used the souls of his people as weapon. Walking through the hallways, reminded him of horrendous acts that he committed, and the guilt that he carried. That guilt was inescapable but it was worse at the school.

"Guys, what are we going to do?" April asked, crossing her arms and adjusting her jacket to provide more warmth. "It's freezing and late and I have to get back to my mum!"

"Yeah, my mum's gonna be pretty worried and pissed," Ram said.

"My brother's are going to be worried sick if I'm not back soon," Tanya added, biting down on her lip.

Charlie looked up at Matteusz, feeling a bit awkward in the conversation. Quill didn't care about his whereabouts and neither did Matteusz's parents. The five of them looked at each other, hoping that maybe one of them would have an idea as to how they would get back, but neither of them did. They had no idea where they were. They fell through the crack of all of time and space so there was an inordinate amount of places they could be.

"It looks like Narnia," Matteusz commented, looking around at the snowy mountains and surroundings. Charlie still hasn't read those books but he has been meaning too. Matteusz references them constantly. He added, "Before the Pevensie children arrived."

"Does no one have any ideas?" April asked, throwing her arms out to her sides. They all shook their heads.

"Maybe we should walk around?" He suggested questioningly, knowing that what he said was not the answer that they were all hoping for, but their options were extremely limited. They didn't seem to be trapped with an object like that time in detention. They were given snow, land, and sunset, which wasn't very helpful. In fact, it only made it worse because they would only have so long before the sun set and they would be stuck in the middle of a forest, in the cold, at night. "We can try to find someone so maybe they can tell us where we are."

"Really think that there'll be anybody here?" Ram asked, gesturing to the empty landscape. Maybe they were too far away to see civilization or maybe there wasn't any at all, but it was still worth a shot.

"I don't think we have much of a choice," He replied. He glanced around at the rest of them, waiting to see if they agreed with that plan.

"Fine," Tanya said first, that was quickly followed by the rest of them agreeing.

They tracked down a steep hill first, trying to chase the sun that was quickly setting. His trousers were still wet from falling in the snow. The temperature was quickly dropping and the snowflakes that were falling were slowly starting to grow larger. It was a beautiful sight. It was one that he hoped he would see again, but under better circumstances. He loved watching the flakes fall onto his jacket. Whenever they landed, a unique design would be revealed before they quickly melted away. Snowflakes were beautiful in the air and on a surface.

He stared up at the sky as he aimlessly walked. He liked watching the snowflakes float throughout the air. Like rain, the direction would change with the wind. Matteusz tugged on his arm to pull him closer, and to keep him from falling too far behind from the rest of the group since he was so hypnotized by the snow. He smiled at up his boyfriend, giddy with excitement. Matteusz smiled back at him then Charlie rose up and kissed him. He didn't really feel this kiss. He didn't really feel anything. They had been walking for a while and he was beginning to lose feeling because of the cold. It has been explained to him that the feeling is called "numb." His lips were slowly going numb, so was his nose. He buried his hands in his packet, trying to keep them warm. None of them were going to last long in this weather. It was cold in London, but not as cold as it was here. London didn't have this much snow. It rained, but Charlie has yet to see the snow.

"Okay, back up plan, what are we going to do if we can't find anyone?" Ram brought up, shivering in his jacket. "I mean, we're not exactly equipped to spend the night outside in the snow."

"We can try to start a fire," He suggested as a way to get some warmth in the cold.

"No, all of the sticks would be too wet to get anything started," Tanya explained, looking over her shoulder at him. He stared down at his wet, cold feet as he tried to think of another idea. Matteusz's arm pressed up against his, providing little but some warmth.

A rustle was heard from the trees nearby. They all stopped in their tracks and squinted their eyes to see if they could spot anything from beyond the darkness. "I would like to think that whatever we heard could be a rabbit but based on our luck it's probably an alien," Tanya whispered before they all took off running through the snow. It probably was a rabbit but none of them were waiting to see if it was or wasn't. She was right about their luck being terrible so that was why they all ran.

They ran for a while, or at least until they ran into a trap that was set in the forest. One of them tripped on a wire that revealed a net that was hidden by the snow. The net picked all five of them up off the ground. They collapsed on top of one another in the very tight, unstable space. Feet were slipping through the holes of the net.

"Shit," April muttered. "Ram, your on my foot!"

"Well I can't really move, April!" He yelled back her while swatting Charlie's face away from his. "Charlie, move your face!"

"I can't move either," He yelled at his friend, even though his face was almost pressed against Ram's.

"Everyone just stop moving for a second!" Tanya yelled, silencing them all. He stayed still in his place, despite being uncomfortable. Besides the movement of the branches that were holding them up, the forest was quiet. It was nice. "Does anyone know how to get out of here?"

"I don't really think that any of us carry pocket knives, Tanya," April remarked, holding onto the net so she could try to pull herself up.

"Just asking," Tanya defended the reasoning behind the question. They all fell silent again.

Charlie could already feel his heartbeat starting to race. He moved his hand around to find Matteusz's. He found the other boy's hand and laced their fingers together. "Are you alright?" Matteusz asked, squeezing Charlie's hand.

"We need to find a way out of here," He spoke softly, trying to control the panic in his voice. Matteusz pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles. He could barely see his boyfriend's face. He could barely see anyone. The sun was almost down, and the trees hid what little light was left. Soon their only source of light would be from the dim, far away moon.

"Breathe, remember?" Matteusz whispered gently. He took in a deep breath. He inhaled deeply and would slowly exhale.

Not a day went by that Charlie didn't think about how lucky his was to have Matteusz, or any of his friends. He doubted that anyone else would put up with his constant line of questions concerning pop culture, humans, or nature. Every day he finds out something new. Just today he found out about snow. No one else would've been as accepting as this group of friends. No one probably would've accepted him.

Rhodians and humans have a couple things in common, and one of them was that neither race was quite fond of Charlie. When your royalty, you might be admired and loved but it isn't real. It only means that your people respect you. They have accepted you as their leader but they will never think of you as anything else. That meant that Charlie would never be viewed as a person in the eyes of his people, he would only been seen as a be piece of property used for the good of his country. Because of that Charlie never had any friends back on Rhodia. He was rather lonely as a child, which made a rough childhood, despite being a Prince.

Humans found Charlie rather strange. None of them wanted to be friends with someone they deemed weird. If they knew he was an alien, it would explain why he was so strange, but then no one would want to be friends with an alien. Either way, he was disliked strongly by others. Occasionally classmates teased him. They would throw paper at him in class, push him around in the hallway, and trip him in the hallway or classroom.

He hated thinking of his life without his friends. He has been told that many friendships that are forged in high school rarely ever last beyond that, and he doesn't want these friendships to end. They can't end, they just can't. This is the only family that Charlie has ever had. His parents were too busy ruling Rhodia to pay attention to him and he never had friends on Rhodia. On earth he learned that he could choose his own family, well he has chosen his family, and he desperately needed those bonds to survive. He didn't want to be alone.

Earth was fascinating that way. Being related to someone didn't necessarily mean that they were family. Someone that isn't related to you can be your family. Matteusz, Tanya, April, and Ram, were his family. His real family probably wasn't his family at all. The more he thinks about it the more he begins to realize that they never really loved him. He loved them, more than anything he did, but that love never seemed to be returned. If it was then that love was very distant.

He never knew what being loved felt like until he met Matteusz. He never knew what it was like to be in love until he met Matteusz. He never knew what many things felt like until he met Matteusz. He never knew what being kissed felt like. He found that he liked kissing very much. He also loved holding hands, cuddling, and sex. Yeah, he enjoyed having sex. He loved the moments where he could worship Matteusz's body in a way that no one else could. He loved it when Matteusz did the same to him. In those moments, he has never felt more loved. The moments where Matteusz kissed him, whether that was on his lips or another part of his body, were the moments where Charlie felt loved; or the moments where Matteusz would hold him gently while thrusting into him. Until he met Matteusz, he never knew that anyone could love him.

Matteusz makes him feel a way that he has never felt before. Every time his boyfriend smiles, he feels happy as well, and his stomach always has a pleasant tingling sensation. He loved hearing him laugh. Charlie loved it when he was able to get Matteusz to laugh. More than anything, he wanted to make Matteusz happy. He wanted to protect him, love him, and take care of him. Matteusz has helped him in so many ways since he has arrived on earth, and Charlie wanted to do the same.

He often feels that he doesn’t deserve Matteusz's love. Scratch that, he knows that he is undeserving of Matteusz's love. His boyfriend is a good person, he is a wonderful person, and Charlie isn't. Despite being forgiven by April, and being told by everyone that using the Cabinet of Souls was the right thing to do, he still didn't believe them. He committed genocide. He has committed horrible acts, and yet, Matteusz still loves him.

He feels undeserving of all the friendships he has made as well. They were all wonderful, smart, and kind people, and he was a weird alien, who knew absolutely nothing. He was an emotionally damaged, strange, not-exactly-smart alien ex-prince. Most of the time he felt useless, like he had no purpose, but they made him feel like he was important. They made him feel like he was something good. He was the leader of two dead species. Despite the intentions, he was a complete failure. But his friends, his family, they made him feel like maybe he wasn't one.

Tanya was a genius. Ever since the Cabinet, Charlie's grades haven't been that good. He has spent hours hunched over a desk, working on homework, trying to understand the material. He spaces out in class, guilt and memories overwhelm his mind, and he struggles to pay attention. He tries to, he wants to, but his distracted mind and lack of sleep make it very difficult to do so. But Tanya, despite facing loss as well, decided to help him. She was able to explain everything to him, and she was supportive, and she was amazing.

They all possessed qualities that Charlie wished he had. He could go on about them for ages. He loved them all.

He took in another deep breath, trying so hard to control himself, trying to stop his heart from racing. The sound of twigs breaking below snapped him out of his focus. "Someone's here," Ram whispered to the rest of them. He tried to move his head so he could see whoever it was but the net allowed him very little sight.

"Well, fellas, what do we have here?" He heard a smug voice ask. There must be more than one person. He heard a scratching sound from below then suddenly they were falling. They hit the ground for the second time that day with a thud. They all grunted as their backs hit it. The net didn't cushion their fall at all. They all wrangled around in the net, trying to get themselves out of it. After a minute or two, Charlie was able to find a way out of the net. He scrambled up to his feet and breathed in deeply for a moment, feeling better now that he wasn't trapped in the net.

"Are you okay?" Matteusz asked, hands coming up to Charlie's shoulders. He frantically nodded his head and breathed in deeply again, trying to recover what air was knocked out of him during the fall.

"Thanks," April thanked the two men. Charlie had completely forgotten about them. Well, he didn't know that there was another one; he only heard the voice of the one man. They were both short, and a black and white badger accompanied them. They all muttered their thanks once they turned to face the men and their pet.

"You're most certainly welcome," The badger answered first. His eyes widened at the response, as did everyone else's. He might not understand everything on earth, but he knew from experience that animals did not talk. They all gaped at the two men and the badger. They've seen a lot in the past year but they have not seen a talking animal.

"The hell ya lookin' at?" One of the men asked, glancing over his shoulder to see what they were gaping at. He had a regular English accent like the rest of them.

"What the hell are they wearing?" The other one asked, he had a Scottish accent. Charlie looked down at his clothes, suddenly feeling self-conscious about what he was wearing.

"Clothes," Ram answered. The man who asked the question gave him a face that they all snickered at. He obviously didn't appreciate Ram's obvious answer. "And what do you mean what the hell are we lookin' at? It talked!" Ram exclaimed, pointing to the badger. In that moment, Charlie remembered how courageous Ram always is. Even though they are all talking about clothes and a badger, Ram always spoke up. He stood up for himself. Sometimes what he said would be a snarky comeback, but either way, Ram never let anyone push him around. Charlie loved the time when Ram told off Quill during the middle of her lesson. Charlie didn't appreciate it then because he thought that Ram was being dead serious about jerking off while writing a paper, but he later found out that it was sarcasm.

"Of course it talks," The man argued back as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It clearly wasn't the most obvious thing in the world if Charlie, an alien, or his human friends could not figure out how an animal possessed the ability to talk. That wasn't normal for any of them. They were all had normal, regular feelings about some aspects of their lives, but talking animals was not one of them. "What did you expect it to do? Just not talk?"

"Yes!" They all answered at once. The two men and the badger were all thrown off by that response.

"You lot are weird," Grunted one of the men. Charlie was used to that statement so he just shrugged it off. The man turned his back to them, "Let's go," He spoke to his group.

"Wait," They all yelled, taking a step forward. "Do you have - or know - a place where we could stay?" Tanya asked in a rush.

"We're lost," Charlie explained, tugging his coat closer to his body

"And freezing with nowhere to go," April added, stepping closer to Tanya for warmth.

"Oh, and do you mind telling us where we are?" Matteusz asked. Charlie bet that his boyfriend was probably hoping that it was Narnia. He really does like those books. "Or when we are..." He whispered that last part; Charlie doubted that the rest of them heard it.

The five of them stared down at them, eagerly waiting for an answer. "Of course," The badger said with a smile on its face. The two men rolled their eyes and grunted as the badger agreed. "You can stay with us. I think our house will be big enough for the five of you."

"Thank you," They all muttered, following closely behind the three of them. "It didn't answer my question," Matteusz sighed in Charlie's ear with a slightly irritated tone. His breath was warm against his ear, and Charlie loved it for two reasons. One was because he was freezing and he desperately wanted any source of warmth. The second reason was because Charlie always liked it when Matteusz did that.

"Where are we exactly?" Matteusz tried again, but louder.

The three abruptly stopped in their tracks. They turned around to face the five of them. "Where are you children from?" He asked.

"London," Ram answered with a confused look on his face  
  
"The hell's London?" One of them grunted. They all stared blankly at the two men. Eventually they just shrugged it off. They returned to walking and one of the men answered, "You're in Ouranós." Charlie hasn't heard of that before.

"What are you're names?" The badger asked them.

They all said their names one at a time. "What are your names?" April asked.

"Simon," Answered the badger first. He seemed to be the nicer out of the three, or at least, the more gentle. The two men might've been small but based on their appearance they were rough. They carried knives and axes in a belt around their waist. They both had long beards that hid most of their faces, and the parts of their faces that weren't hidden were covered with cuts that hadn't yet healed and scars of wounds that had faded long ago. They both had long hair that was pulled back into a braid,

"Grendel," Grunted one of them.

"Madock," Said the other one.

"Will we be there soon?" Ram asked. He was shivering, they all were. They were all gathered together in a tight circle, trying to keep warm. Their clothes were still damp from falling in the snow earlier. The sun had set, the temperature was dropping, and they were exhausted. The moon glistened on the white snow, lighting up the dark night.

"It's right over that hill," Madock informed them, pointing at the hill that they were about to hike up. They all joined together in a sigh. He wasn't sure if it was a happy sigh because they were all thankful because it was just over the hill, or if it was miserable because they had to climb up that steep, slick hill.

Every single one of them slips and falls at least one, soaking their clothes once more. The second their eyes laid on the small house they ran to it, desperate for shelter. The two men and badger let them in the small house. It was really small. Matteusz couldn't walk through the doorway with having to duck his head. Actually, they all had to duck through the doorway. The house was built for the men and badger, not five teenagers.

They entered the house, huddling close together in the confined space. They all bent their knees and ducked their heads to avoid hitting the ceiling. "I'll get started on a fire," Muttered Grendel.

"Thank you," The five of the responded all at once.

"I'll get some blankets," Simon announced, leaving the room and into a dark hallway.

"Want anything to eat?" Madock asked.

"Yes, please," They all shivered at the same time, again. He heard some sort of scratching noise. He squinted his eyes but he still couldn't see anything. The small window provided little to no light in the tiny cabin. Then suddenly sparks ignited between two twigs in a fireplace. They all moved closer to it, hands out in front of them

Charlie stripped himself of his jacket, getting rid of the damp piece of clothing. "Does fire hurt?" He asked, moving his hands closer to the fire.

"Yes," They all yelled at once.

"How do you know?" He asked them. He has never touched fire before. He didn't plan on touching it, especially since Matteusz's hands were hovering over his, ready to snatch his hands away from the fire incase he decided to go any nearer.

"I touched a stove when I was younger," April told him. "Wasn't fire but it was close enough. Hurt like a bitch."

Tanya snickered beside of her. "Sorry, I'm not used to you swearing," She smiled brightly. "And yeah, Charlie, I did the same thing. Many kids have done that."

"Why?" He was completely bewildered by the thought that someone would know not to touch something but yet they would still touch it.

"It's just stupid stuff that you do when you're a kid," Ram started. "When you're parents tell you to do something, you usually do the exact opposite of what they said not to do."

_Well I never did it_ , he thought to himself. He wondered how he would've turned out if he was born a human. He wondered how he would've turned out if he wasn't born with the title of a prince. He wanted to know what it was like to grow up without that responsibility weighing you down everyday. He never could have done something like that when he was younger. He never could've disregarded his parent’s rules without being punished. He learned that at a young age. He supposed every child learned that lesson, but not to the severity that he did.

He wished that maybe he could've lived a life like that, a life without the weight of the world resting on your shoulders. He wished his entire childhood was different. He wished he could've made a stupid mistake like that without earning the punishment of a Prince. The punishment of a Prince consisted of being locked in your room for days without any visitors, and under no circumstance was he allowed to be let out. His parents would occasionally be on the other side of his door, telling him that he needed to do better, telling him that they were disappointed. His room back on Rhodia was about the same as Quill's classroom. Now that Charlie thought of it, maybe that was why he was claustrophobic.

"Did you do that as a child?" He asked Matteusz.

"No," He shrugged his shoulders. He turned his head to stare down at Charlie. "Although once I did burn myself once when I was getting a piece of toast out of the oven. My fingers touched the walls and burned me." He smiled up at his boyfriend, finding the story amusing.

"Why were you getting a piece of toast out of the oven?" Ram brought up with that extremely squished, confused expression as his face. His nose would scrunch up and he always squinted his eyes.

They all turned their heads to stare at Matteusz. It was a silly question, but it was a good question. "Our toaster broke and my parents didn't feel like spending money on a new one when we could very well just heat up our toast in the oven."

"Oh," The other four said at once. They were all expecting a silly reply but instead they got a rational one.

"Here are some blankets," Simon carried blankets into the room.

"Thank you," They all rejoiced, taking the blankets out of his arms. Charlie wrapped his around his shoulders and squeezed it close to his body. He kicked off his shoes, releasing his feet from the soggy, wet confinements and warmed them up by the fire.

"You can sit down," Simon said, gesturing to the empty floor. They all slowly dropped down onto the floor. He groaned in relief as his legs rested for the first time in a few hours.

**xXx**

They five of them sat next to the fireplace with blankets wrapped around their shoulders. Tanya held her bowl of soup in her hands. The two men and badger were sitting in front of them and the five children sat in a line and stared up at them. Grendel glanced up from his bowl and found them all watching them. “What?” He asked sharply, making Tanya flinch at the unnecessary loudness of his voice.

Her head was filled with questions about this world and she was having trouble picking which one to ask first. She had seen the Shadowkin’s realm through the crack but that was the closest that she has ever been to a different world. This was her first time. It was Matteusz’s first time as well. Everyone else has traveled across the galaxy as least once. She took a sip of her soup as she racked her brain to choose which question she wanted to ask.

She knew that Simon was an animal, a badger to be exact. He was a badger that possessed the impossible ability to talk. Scratch that, the badger could speak english. She knew that animals communicated with one another but it wasn't with the english language and it usually wasn't with humans. She wondered if it was only badgers that could talk, or it it was only Simon, or was it all of the animals in this world. She would start there. “Can all animals talks here?” She asked.

“Yes,” Simon answered her question.

She knew it would be useless to ask how they were able to talk because that was the norm in this world. “Are there any other humans?” She asked next. Matteusz mentioned how this place reminded him and Narnia and she agreed. If it was like Narnia, were they the only humans there?

“Yes,” Answered Madock before slurping up his soup. She stared out of the corner of her eye, debating which question she should ask next.

“Are there any monsters here?” Was the next question she asked. She crossed her fingers in the hope that maybe they could catch a small break from the monsters, but she also knew it was pointless because their luck sucked.

“Yeah. Loads of ‘em,” Grendel took that question. He rose his eyebrows in excitement as he answered the question.

“Such as?” Ram asked for specific examples.

Grendel grunted and out his soup down on his lap. He crossed his arms and stared up at the ceilings. “Lets see,” He mumbled. “Giants are usually nasty. Sea Witches are a true pain in the arse.”

“What are Sea Witches?” Charlie asked.

“Ursela from The Little Mermaid is one,” Matteusz explained and Charlie nodded his head as he understood the concept.

“When did you show him The Little Mermaid?” Tanya asked her friend, giggling at the thought of Charlie watching the movie. She knew that Charlie needed to watch these movies in order to understand pop culture, but she imagined that that was probably a hilarious sight to see.

“What the hell is The Little Mermaid?” Madock scrunched his face up in an expression that looked like disgust.

They were all about to answer the question but then they realized that these three had no idea what a movie was. They all just shrugged their shoulders and continued on with the conversation.

“Wait, does that mean that mermaids are real as well?” April piped up from beside her.

“Yes,” Simon took that one.

“Regular witches are horrible, too,” Madock added and Grendel nodded his head in agreement. “What else, what else,” Madock drifted off. He snapped his fingers as he remembered. “Minotaurs are bastards.”

“There are sea serpents,” Grendel put in. “As long as you stay clear of the ocean, you will be safe from those.” He hummed in thought as he tried to come up with some more. “Ogres are ugly things.”

“Are all of these creatures bad?” Ram asked. He was sitting between April and Charlie.

“Most of them are,” Simon answered, glancing over to the men. “For example, there are dwarves that aren’t good. There are good and bad of every creature in this world.”

Tanya breathed in deeply and took another sip of her soup. This was plenty of information. It was more than she thought they were going to learn. “Sea witches are in the oceans as well, right?” She asked next. They specified that the serpent was in the ocean but they said nothing about the witches. “You never said so I wanted to know.”

“Some are,” Madock answered. There was a warning behind his words. “Others could be found in any type of water. Doesn't need to be salt water. We call them sea witches because that’s where there original environment but they adapted so they can live in any body of water. I don't think that they got man bodies in the ocean, that’s why the moved. There’s a higher chance of someone drowning in a lake then there is of a sailor falling off a ship in calm weather.” She nodded her head. ”You lot be careful if you’re ever near any body of water. Unless you can see the ground through the water then you better not swim in it.”

“What do they do?” Matteusz asked.

“Anything,” Grendel answered. “Stories have it that they make hellacious bargains with the other sea creatures down below. Other stories say that they kill other merpeople for fun. They do not like it when humans cross into territory so if it ever happens then they will drown you. If you come across a siren then they will either kill you themselves or take you to one of the sea witches so they can make a bargain and take everything from you.”

“Usually many of the creatures can be avoided as long as you don't wander into their territory,” Madock inputted. “Or piss them off.” Madock paused for a moment, eyes looking up as he thought. “Just be careful.”

“Was that your trap that we got caught in?” Was her next question.

“Yes,” Madock answered, clenching his jaw. “Except the purpose of the trap was to catch any large animals not five children.”

“Sorry,” They all mumbled an apology, staring down at the ground.

“We’re not the only ones,” Grindel warned them all. “You lot are lucky that we set traps for animals. Others are lookin’ for somethin’ special. Forests are riddled with bandits, it’s a wonder how you all weren’t caught. You’re so strange lookin’ that I would’ve thought that they’d grab you within seconds.”

They all sat in silence at the stranger remark regarding their clothing. She finished her soup and placed the empty bowl on the ground, unsure of what to do with it or where to put it. She cleared her throat before she asked another question. “Are there anymore creatures?”

“Plenty, young lady.” Simon picked up her bowl and began to make a stack of them. “But there are far too many creatures in this world to tell you. You’ll just have to discover them on your own.”

Her stomach sank at his words. She didn't plan on discovering them all because she didn't plan on staying. She was going to get back home. Her family was more important than making discoveries in a world that she didn't belong in. Her family was more important than anything to her. She wasn’t going to sit down and accept the fact that she fell through the crack or portal into another world and there was possibly no way to get back home.

The conversation ended once everyone finished their soup. The five of them were given pillows and a couple more blankets. “You lot will be sleeping on the floor,” Madock instructed them before leaving the room.

Charlie and Matteusz were the first to spread out their blankets and pillows on the floor. They laid them out side by side. Ram laid beside Charlie, April laid next to Ram, and Tanya was next to April.

**xXx**

"So we're in another world," Tanya said. There was an unsure tone in her voice. It was a statement that sounded like a question.

"But how?" Ram asked. "I mean, yeah, things have come from other worlds, but that's the thing, they only come out. We don't go in! It's never been that way."

"Except for the time when I opened a path to the realm of the Shadowkin," April piped up, poking Ram's shoulder. "But that's true, it's never opened a new world for us to enter. Monsters have only left the crack, it's never been the opposite way."

"It is a crack throughout all of space and time," Matteusz started, resting his head on Charlie's shoulder. "Is there a possibility that it took us back in time?" They all fell silent, thinking about that option for a couple of moments, but then Matteusz spoke up again, "Never mind, I forgot about Simon." They all nodded their heads, suddenly remembering that an animal could talk. Matteusz wrapped his arms around Charlie's chest, pulling him in closer. He was tired, they all were.

He ran his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, causing both of them to slowly drift off. Matteusz looked up at him, resting his chin on Charlie's shoulder, he puckered his lips and Charlie leaned in and kissed him. "Wake me up if you need me, okay?" He whispered in Charlie's ear. He nodded, knowing full well what Matteusz was talking about.

Like everyone else, he has been suffering from nightmares. Some of them are nightmares about that day, others are nightmares about Rhodia, and some are about losing the people that he loves. He can't bear to lose anymore. Sometimes he has nightmares about losing Matteusz, and he's always overwhelmed with relief when he wakes up to find him lying in the bed next to him. Every time he has one of these nightmares, he wakes up in a screaming, crying fit, scared of what else life will do to him, scared of what it will do to his friends, and confused about his reality. Waking up confused is horrible. He wakes up unsure if certain events have happened, which leads to hope that maybe some of them haven't occurred. Some have and some haven't, and that realization leads to more pain. Thankfully, every time that he has these nightmares, Matteusz is always there to comfort him.

Matteusz kissed him once more and then kissed his cheek. "You should get some sleep," He whispered. He raised his voice slightly but it was not loud enough to disturb the other people sleeping in the house, "We should all get some sleep."

"Yeah, I'm exhausted," Ram agreed. "Goodnight," He mumbled.

"Goodnight," They all whispered at once. He rolled over onto his side, wrapping his arms around Matteusz, and resting his head on the back of his neck. Slowly he drifted off to sleep, welcoming dreams and nightmares to come.

  

  

Thank you [CloOm](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CloOm/pseuds/CloOm) (aka [timeneverforgets](https://timeneverforgets.tumblr.com)) for making

me this gifset!

 


	2. First Of All, Where Are We? Second Of All, How Do We Get Back Home? Part II.

Ram moved around on the floor, wincing at the uncomfortable position of his arm. He unwillingly opened his eyes, wincing once again but this time it was directed at the light that was shining through the small window. He moved his arm out from underneath's April's waist. He rolled over onto his back, groaning at the new position on the floor. He threw his arm over his eyes, shielding his eyes from the bright light.

"Morning," Charlie whispered beside of him. He jumped in his spot, bumping into April and causing her to groan. "Sorry," The other boy whispered. "Didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's fine," He mumbled, closing his eyes, even though he knew it was pointless. Charlie scaring him was bound to keep him up for at least a couple more minutes before he would be able to calm down and fall back asleep. "What are you doing up?" He asked Charlie.

"Because I woke up," Ram answered, growing irritated about how he wasn't getting the least bit drowsy. "There's no reason behind it." Matteusz suddenly snored from the other side of Charlie. "Does he always do that?"

"No," Charlie answered. "Just occasionally, depending on the position he's in. Usually I'm asleep for most it."

"Okay," Ram said slowly.

He took his arm off of his eyes, giving up on falling back asleep. He eyed his jacket, thinking about going outside and taking a smoke, but it was cold outside, and he needed to quit. He didn't smoke that much, he couldn't really smoke because of football, but he still did it occasionally whenever he needed a break from schoolwork, aliens, or football. Even though it's only small, he wanted to quit completely. Because of everything that has been happening, he is worried that maybe one day he will become too invested in his stress relief.

Life has calmed down a bit since everything that happened that day. There are still aliens, that's unavoidable, but there hasn't been as much death. Usually the only aliens that have visited are only there to mess shit up, they haven't killed anyone recently, thank goodness. They've all faced enough of that, but sadly, Ram doesn't think that they have faced the last of it.

His mom is still having trouble adjusting to it all. He understands it, and like his dad, she doesn't want him facing it. He gets it, he really does, but she doesn't understand that he doesn't have any other choice but to face it. If not him then someone else, and no one should have to go through what he has. If they didn't do this then the world would've ended a long time ago. Unfortunately, not fighting aliens is not, and probably never will be an option for him.

"Do you think it was the crack that took us here?" Ram asked, turning his head to look at Charlie.

The other boy nodded his head. "There doesn't seem to be any other explanation for it," He whispered. "Besides the Doctor, I can't think of any other way that we could've been transported to another world. There was the rock in detention, but it hit us. I don't recall anything being hit with anything?" Charlie glanced over at Ram with an unsure expression on his face.

"We weren't hit with anything," Ram cleared up. Charlie's memory was probably fuzzy from hitting a rock on the ground when he fell yesterday. "Suddenly we fell through the ground and hit a different one." Charlie nodded his head. "That same question from detention stands: how do we get out of here?"

"If it was the crack that brought us here then maybe it will open up again and we can get back?"

Ram would love a simple solution like at but he doubted that it was that easy. "You really think it will be that easy?" He asked, not believing Charlie's words for a second.

"No," Charlie sighed. "Just wishful thinking. I don't even think that would be possible. We wouldn't know when or where it would open again. We could be stranded here for months before it opened."

"Mate, I am not staying here for months," He stated. He figured that they were going to have to find a way out on their own. He couldn't be away from home for that long. He can't be away from his mum for so long. She's probably already losing her mind, same with Tanya's brothers and April's mother. He covered his face in his hands, sickened at the thought of his mom thinking that he was dead. He couldn't let her think that. "We have to find a way out of here."

"I know," Charlie replied. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

He heard footsteps coming up the hallway. They were too heavy to be Simon, so it had to be either Grendel or Madock. Madock appeared in his eyesight. "Morning," He greeted him and Charlie.

"Morning," They replied.

Matteusz groaned and rolled over on top of Charlie. "What time is it?" He mumbled, his accent thick with sleep.

"Don't know," He replied, looking over to see if April or Tanya were stirring in their sleep. They were. April rolled over and draped her arm on his waist. He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his lips. He held her tightly for a second, enjoying that moment. He loved April. He loved her so much he couldn't believe it sometimes. "Morning," He whispered to her, running his fingers through her brown hair.

"Morning," She whispered, burying her face in his neck. "What time is it? It's so bright out."

"Be quiet," Tanya mumbled, squishing the head around the back of her head, covering up her ears.

He chuckled at Tanya's reaction. "Sorry," He whispered to his friend. She waved her hand at him and rolled over with her back to them. "And I have no idea," He told April. "Sleep good?"

"Yes," She answered.

Madock stepped into the room, boots heavy on the wooden floor, the tools on his belt were clinking with every step. "Do you five want any breakfast?" He asked, voice rough and gruff.

"Yes," They all answered.

"We should talk to him," Tanya said, letting her pillow fall back onto the floor. She was facing the four of them. "Then maybe we can find a way to get back home."

He didn't want to get up, but he knew that he needed to. The same thing could be said for everyone else. They laid in the thick, warm blankets for another minute, letting themselves relax before they had to face the day. A day that was doomed to be stressful. They all crawled out of the blankets and fixed their twisted clothes around their bodies. He raised his arms and stretched. The five of them adventured into the room where Madock was. He was rotating a piece of toast near a fire. They all took a seat down at the round table.

"Do you know a way we could travel back to our world?" Tanya asked.

"No," Madock grumbled. "The only advice I can think to give ya is to find a witch.

Ram still couldn't get over the idea of witches being real. The possibility of magic was a foreign thought to them. Yeah, they had Harry Potter, but it was fictional. Magic is fictional; something that only exists in books. The real world is science, or at least his world, is filled with science. They had figured out how to defeat aliens before and they did it all on their own, they didn't need any magic to help them. He knew that worlds were different, but not so different that magic existed in one of them. He wondered what possibilities Charlie's world contained.

"I don't know the full extent of their power, but there have been stories," He said wearily, his Scottish accent was extremely thick. "It has been told that very few witches have the ability to open portals to different worlds. Travelers and adventurers went to them when they wanted to see other worlds. People who were fearful of the idea of other galaxies went out and sought out those witches and killed them. Now there are even fewer of those witches then there were before."

Madock put a piece of toast, and apple, and eggs on a plate, and handed it to Tanya. He cleared his throat and continued on with his story. "Witches are your best bet to getting back home..."

"But?" Ram asked, desperate for him to continue his sentence. He knew that what Madock was about to say was not going to be good but they needed to hear it anyway.

Madock turned and stared at the five of them. "How badly do you lot want to get back home."

"Badly," April answered for all of them. "It's our home. We don't belong here."

Madock turned his back on them and continued. "The tricky thing about witches is that they always strike up a bargain," He started, passing out some more food for the rest of them. "They will fulfill your wish but at a great cost. They can and will put a price on the deal and that price could cost one of you your life. Would you be willing to pay such a price?"

His stomach sank at the question. That wasn't what he was expecting. That wasn't what any of them were expecting. The room fell silent as they thought about the question. "And that's our best chance at getting home?" Charlie asked, staring down at his plate of food. Madock nodded. "Would the witch pick whose life she desired?"

"Why does it matter?" Ram asked. Why does it matter if she chose? In the end, one of them would still die. One of them would be lost for forever. Ram didn't want anyone else to die. He couldn't bear of thought of losing any one else. He didn't want to lose his family. He didn't want to lose his friends. Why did someone have to die?

"It matters because if she let one of us volunteer to die then I would do it," Charlie whispered softly. The room fell silent once more at the response. He didn't know how to respond to that comment. Him and Charlie weren't exactly close. They were friends but he was closer with Tanya and April then he was with Charlie. Despite the fact that they weren't close, he knew that he didn't want to lose Charlie either. Ram cared about Charlie. He was his friend. "If that was the case then I would say that we should find her."

The rest of them were still silent. "You lot should think about it for a couple of hours," Madock told them. "When you've made up your mind, let me know."

They ate their breakfast in silence. They didn't talk about what they thought they should do. Eventually Grendel and Simon joined them at the small table. They all had to share seats with one another.

Once Matteusz finished, he excused himself from the table and told them he was going to get some air. Eventually Charlie followed behind him. Madock, Grendel and Simon began to pick up the dishes and Tanya, April, and Ram left back to the room where they were asleep earlier.

**xXx**

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Matteusz heard Charlie promise behind him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around to find his boyfriend trudging through the snow to get to him. When his boyfriend caught up, they held one another’s hands. He kept his eyes on the ground, feeling a familiar burn return to them. Tears began to blur his vision. “I’m sorry,” Charlie whispered, wrapping his arms around Matteusz’s waist, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“What did you think was going to happen? I don’t want to lose you.” He held onto Charlie tightly, running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. Ever since the Cabinet, Charlie has been having a difficult time. He knew that Charlie would, he knew why he saved that last soul in the Cabinet, he knew the intention behind it. The intention to kill himself is sadly an option that Charlie sometimes considers. Most day’s Charlie has a hard time coping but he was able to fight through it, other day’s the man he loved wanted nothing more than for someone or something to take his life away.

“I don’t want to lose you either, that’s why I said what I did. If it was between you or me dying, I would do it so you would live. I would die for all of you because you’re my family. I…I didn’t think about how it would be taken.” Charlie locked eyes with Matteusz. “I promise that right now I am fine. I will tell you if something is wrong.”

They stood there for a few moments longer, holding tightly onto one another.

**xXx**

"What do you all think of finding a witch?" He asked, sitting on the floor against the wall.

"It's the only chance we have," Tanya said, voice filled with remorse. "All we can do is hope that she doesn't ask for a price that costs one of us our lives. I mean, your parents are at home worried sick about you!" Tanya gestured to him and April. "My brothers are worried sick about me!" She took in a deep breath. "If the price involves one of us dying then we can go and find another witch. But we don't have much of a choice."

"Yeah," He agreed. "I think we should go find one, and we will pay the price as long as no one has to die."

They both looked over at April who nodded her head in agreement. "We'll talk it over with Charlie and Matteusz when they come back," She said as she moved over to sit next to Ram.

"I think Charlie's on board," He told them, reflecting on what Charlie said earlier.

"Where do you think they went?" April asked, looking up at the window. "I don't hear them."

"I'm sure they're close by," Tanya reassured. "Think they needed to just talk it out."

Grendel stomped into the room, boots heavy on the wooden floor. "Wasn't there five of you?" He asked.

"Yeah, they're outside," He answered the question.

"Well when they get back, you lot are coming with me," He said, turning his back to leave the room.

"Wait, where?" Tanya questioned, stopping him in mid-turn.

He turned back around to face them. 'You look like a bunch'a damn fools in those silly garments. I'm going to take you all to the village to get ya some more clothes." He paused for a second before he added, "And some weapons if ya decided to go after the witch."

"If we're just striking a bargain with her then why do we need weapons?" April asked.

"You'll need 'em for the journey," He answered, eyes turning dark. He looked haunting in that moment, Ram couldn't explain it. His words seem to carry a warning but his face seemed to give a dreaming face, like he was pleasant and comfortable with five kids running off to find a witch. "Let me know when those other two get back," He ordered before he left the room.

"He's...pleasant," Tanya said sarcastically with a disgusted frown on her face. "I know that he's helping us, but does he creep you guys out, too?"

"Yeah," Both him and April answered. They all stared back at the doorway where he exited. Simon and Madock were completely different from him. Simon was nice, so was Madock, but Grendel seemed to be a very rough guy, and by rough Ram meant possibly dangerous. He was scary lookin' if he was being honest.

A couple minutes later, Matteusz and Charlie entered the house shivering. They all stared awkwardly at one another, unsure of how to bring the topic up. Instead Ram just reported Grendel's message to them, "Grendel wants to take us down to the village to get us some clothes." He paused and licked his lips before adding the second part, "And weapons if we decide to go."

They both nodded their heads. "You should probably go tell Grendel that your back. He wants to leave soon," Tanya added. They two nodded again and left the room to find Grendel.

"I don't wanna go back out in the snow," He complained, resting his head on April's shoulders. He pursed his lips in a pout. He really didn't. He was shivering just from the cold air that was let in when Charlie and Matteusz entered.

The two entered the room again and buried themselves underneath the blankets. "Are we going to find a witch?" Matteusz asked, glancing around the room at the three of them.

"We want to bargain with the witch who has the less horrific deal," April explained. He wanted to chuckle at the way she put it but he figured that it was not the time. "No one is going to die."

"Okay," The two other boys agreed.

**xXx**

April strolled around the dark, eerie room. They reached a final conclusion to seek out a witch on their journey, they informed Grendel so he wanted to get them weapons. Now they are in a creepy shop in the nearby village where the walls are completely covered in devices. April didn't believe that all the devices were weapons, some of them were meant for torture.

Her eyes scammed over the disturbing wall until a reflection caught her eye. On the center of the wall, there were two swords, they were similar to the Shadowkin's scimitars. They were large, sharp, and rugged. She lifted off the wall and held them in her hands.

April hated the Shadowkin and Corkinus more than anything, but she must admit, the swords were pretty damn cool. She learned how to fight with them. She was good with swords, she knew how to fight with them and how to maneuver them. She was familiar with the weight and the force of a scimitar. She knew what she was capable of with them. "You sure you want those?" The shop owner questioned. "Might be a bit heavy for ya."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure I want these," She responded calmly, ignoring the anger that rose up at his words. If only he knew that she became a goddamn king with a pair of swords. “I’ve fought with something like these before."

Charlie came over, pulling Matteusz with him. Charlie took one of the wall as well. They were more like a typical sword but there were carvings along the blade and handle. "You want one, too?" April asked, she hasn't seen Charlie use any weapon besides a gun. She figured that he would want a bow and arrow.

He nodded his head in response to her question. "I was trained with every weapon back home. I'm good with swords." He paused for a second as his eyes roamed over the blade of the sword. He handed it to Matteusz then lifted another sword off of it's handle. "We'll take these," Charlie declared, staring at Matteusz. The other boy nodded and walked away. Charlie turned to her, "He doesn't like any weapons."

She nodded her head. Matteusz, the pacifist pol. "Did you talk things out earlier?" She asked.

"Yes," Charlie answered, looking down at the ground. "He misunderstood the meaning behind what I said." Charlie lifted his eyes to look at her. "I think you all did. I meant that I would sacrifice myself for you because your my family. I didn't mean..." Charlie drifted off, clenching his jaw as if he was trying to hold something back. "I didn't mean to worry you."

She wrapped and arm around Charlie, bringing him in for a hug. They didn't talk much longer. It was always hard to talk. They all had their days where they were struggling to cope. Some struggled worse than others. There were some days where she was afraid to leave Ram's side because she feared that she may never see him again. There were some days when she didn't want to leave any of her friends for the fear of losing them. The Shadowkin has forever left a nasty scar on all of their hearts and minds, and now all they can do is move on from it. They are recovering, slowly but surely.

They all gathered in front of the salesman to purchase their items. "What did you get?" She asked Ram and Tanya. Ram held up a bow and a quiver filled with arrows. He had an unsure expression written across his face. "Do you not want it?" She asked.

"Ram doesn't think he'll be good at it," Tanya answered for him. "And I think he's wrong because he has good aim and hand-eye coordination so he should be good at it." That made sense. Ram's aim was really good, he could totally use the bow. Tanya waved around her weapon. "I'm getting a dagger," She said with a smile on her face.

**xXx**

“Do we really need to practice?” Ram yelled over the screeching wind at Madock. The dwarf was setting up a target on a tree branch. “It’s freezing! The village was bad enough.” He complained to the rest of the group. While they were at the village, they all picked a weapon to defend themselves on their journey. Tanya suggested that Ram get a bow and arrow. Her reasoning behind it was that Ram had good aim because of football. “And why are all of you out here?” He asked them, turning around to glare at them.

“Support,” Tanya answered, smiling at him.

“I’m probably rubbish at it,” He mumbled, digging his foot into the snow.

“Don’t say that, Ram,” April comforted, rubbing her hand up and down his back. “Like Tanya said earlier, you’re amazing a football -“

“Was” He interjected. He was amazing at football until he lost his leg. His dad was helping him. He was improving, then everything came to a screeching halt when the Shadowkin came back. His mother supported football but she knew nothing about it and didn’t quite have the time to help him. She was constantly out of town for work, leaving him alone in the house. When that happened, he usually spent most of his time with April or Tanya. He didn’t like being alone in the house, he felt lonely.

“You still are amazing,” April reassured him. He didn’t believe her.

“Aren’t you guys gonna practice, too?” He asked, desperately wanting them to stop paying attention to him. He didn’t like them watching him. He didn’t want them to watch him make a fool of himself.

"We will," Charlie promised from behind him.

"What about you two?" He exchanged glances with Matteusz and Tanya.

"Quill taught me how to fight," Tanya answered, smiling proudly. "Besides, I think all I can do with a dagger is stab someone."

"And throw it," Charlie interjected. They all stared at him for a moment. He rolled his eyes at them. Ram has never seen Charlie roll his eyes, it's amusing. "I was a prince, remember? I was trained with every weapon. Tanya can practice throwing it at the target, too."

Tanya scoffed, annoyed with the suggestion because she knew now that Ram was going to make her do it too. "Thanks for the idea, Charlie," He thanked him, causing Tanya to roll her eyes. Charlie smiled proudly to himself. "Aren't you going to practice?" He turned his attention towards Matteusz.

"Charlie will teach me," He shrugged his shoulders.

Madock gave him a thumbs up in the distance and Ram let out a sigh of nerves and frustration. He waited a couple seconds, giving the dwarf time to move away from the target. When Madock reached them, Ram took one of the arrows out of the quiver and aligned it with the string on his bow. He turned to his friends, "Could you turn away for the first one?"

"Fine," They all agreed, turning their backs on him. Well, all except Madock. Ram didn't bother with him, the dwarf seemed firm in his spot.

He raised his bow and pulled the string back, aiming it in the direction of the target. He adjusted his posture, leaning his head in to see where the tip of the arrow was pointed. He moved it to the left, bringing it more center with with the target. He took in a deep breath and released the string from his fingers, letting it fly towards the target. His breath hitched in his throat as the arrow pierced the last ring in the circle. His friend cheered behind him and he spun around.

"I thought I told you to not look at me!" He complained, trying to hide the smile on his face. Yeah, he hit the last ring, but Ram didn't think that he was going to hit the target at all, so he was going to consider this a win. He has felt like a failure in football for months, he has felt like a failure in general these past few months, finally he did something good, and it certainly felt good.

"Yeah, we turned around once you did," Tanya laughed. She playfully pushed his shoulder. "I told you that you would be good at this."

"You'll hit that target with a few adjustments," Madock ensured.

Ram copied his movements like before, except Madock adjusted the way his standing, the way the bow was tilted, etc. He stood that way for a few moments, trying to memorize the way he was standing. He breathed in deeply, calming down the nerves, hoping that he would hit it again.

"Let go," Madock instructed and he did. They all watched as the arrow hit the center of the target.

He smiled to himself again and Madock patted his arm. His friends rooted on for him again and his smiled widened. This felt good. He felt good. He did it a couple more times, coping the movements as Madock taught him. He continued to hit the center of target, eventually he turned his attention to some trees and began to shoot at those, and he succeeded every time.

He turned to Tanya with a smirk on his face. "You're turn."

She rolled her eyes but stepped up. They all got closer to the target since throwing a knife would be more difficult than shooting an arrow.

**xXx**

Tanya tugged her new jacket closer to her body as she waited for Madock to lower the target a little, making it easier to throw the dagger. They all got new clothes, weapons, and some food down at the market. The clothes were much thicker and warmer. Madock climbed down from the tree where the target was perched on. He was able to lower it to eye level.

"You ready?" He asked her. She nodded her head. She could see why Ram didn't like them watching him, it is a bit nerve wracking to have all your friends attention on you. "Do you know how to throw a knife?" He asked next.

"I hold it by the blade," She answered confidently, even though the only time she has ever seen someone throw a knife is in video games and movies, and neither are exactly reliable sources. Madock nodded, confirming her answer and she smiled to herself. At least she learned a couple things from video games. She turned the dagger around her her hands until her fingers were gripping the center of the blade.

"Want us to turn around?" April asked and Tanya breathed out of relief.

"Yes," She answered without hesitation. He glanced over her shoulder to see their backs facing her. "Don't turn around," She warned, figuring that they will do what they did to Ram. She moved the dagger back and forth in her hand for a second, aiming it at the target. Once she felt confident, she threw the dagger straight at the target. It hit dead center. This must be why Tanya was so amazing at video games. She was a natural bad ass.

Her friends cheered for her from behind. "Did you really think that we weren't going to turn back around?" Ram asked her. She shrugged her shoulders in response. She hoped that they wouldn't turn around but she figured that she would.

**xXx**

"Do you want to fight?" April asked Charlie. She promised Ram that she would fight Charlie, but she didn't know if her friend wanted to. She stood behind Ram, watching proudly as he repeatedly hit the target with arrows. When Ram left his spot to go pick the arrows off the target, April turned her head to look at Charlie.

"I don't," He whispered. "I'm sorry, I just -" Charlie cut himself off. "I don't want to hurt you again."

"It's fine, Charlie," April comforted, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. She understood why he didn't want to. April never held what happened that day against Charlie. She begged him to do it, and he followed through, despite the fact that he didn't want to. Even though April had forgiven him, he hadn't forgiven himself.

She knew that Charlie was still letting the guilt eat him alive. She wished she could get it through his head to not blame himself, but sadly, it wouldn't work. Charlie, April thought, has become a willing prisoner to his guilt. She noticed that guilt is contorting his mind and she is worried that one day it will consume him. Charlie is depressed, he has been through trauma that April couldn't understand and never will understand, but the guilt has turned that pain and grief into a punishment. Guilt has taken this much needed process of grieving and twisted it into blame, and the blame has fallen onto the wrong person. She fears Charlie might never be happy again because he thinks he doesn't deserve to be.

April took in a deep breath, returning her attention to Ram. Charlie spoke up, "I mean, I'm sure that you could hold up your end in a fight, but-"

"Charlie," She patted his shoulder. "It's fine, you don't have to explain anything to me." She smiled at him and he smiled back. It was a strange smile but that was because the light was shining directly into his eyes, so he was squinting his eyes.

**xXx**

They all rested on the floor of the room they slept in the previous night. It was still too early to sleep but they walked around the village and trained for hours they were all exhausted. They were all sitting by the fireplace, warming up their feet. They all boot new boots but their feet were still cold. He was sitting between April and Tanya.

"Do we know if time is the same here?" Matteusz asked.

"What do you mean?" Tanya responded.

"It's like in Narnia," Matteusz started, Ram rolled his eyes. What was with these books? Yeah, the movies were good, Ram liked the first book, but Mattuez brought them up constantly. Ram thought that the only book series that was allowed to be brought up this much was Harry Potter. He has read all of those books and he has seen all of the movies. ”They were in Narnia for years and barely any time had passed when they returned. Do you think that's possible for us? Like, would we return home finding out that no time had passed?"

"I wouldn't rule it out," Charlie spoke up. "But I certainly wouldn't count on us being so lucky. I don’t think that time was much different on Rhodia. Was it different in the Shadowkin’s realm?”

Ram shook his head. “We were only gone for a couple hours.”

“Yeah, we weren’t there for days. Although it did look like night the entire time,” April added. He nodded his head in agreement. He wondered if the Shadowkin’s realm looked like a fiery night every day during the day.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a time difference,” Tanya said. They all agreed.

 


	3. The Long and Interesting Journey

They had only been traveling for a couple hours but April was bored. They were woken up at the crack of dawn by Simon, they packed what little items they had, they ate, and then they took off on what will hopefully be a successful journey. They had been riding horses in complete silence and it was giving April the desire to take a nap. The snowy forest that they were hiking through was stunning but April got bored of looking at all the trees about an hour ago. Desperate to start conversation, she blurted out, "How is everyone?"

They all stared at her with confused expressions. "Can we talk about something?" She pleaded. "We've been riding for hours, I'm tired, and I need something to keep me awake."

“Fine?” Tanya shrugged her shoulders. The two girls were sharing a horse, as were Charlie and Matteusz, and Ram was riding with Simon. She turned her head to look at Tanya at the questionable response. “What? I don’t know how to answer that anymore. It feels like strange question.”

“It does feel strange,” Mattuesz agreed.

“Okay, well, what else should we talk about?” She asked.

“We could just not talk,” Grendel grunted from up front. Him and Madock were riding separately up front, they were leading the rest of them April rolled her eyes, she was tired and could feel herself getting grumpy, so she needed to do something to keep her from snapping at someone.

“How’s Andrea?” Tanya asked Charlie and Matteusz. Andrea, Miss Quill’s daughter, was born shortly after the events that took place on that day.

“Good,” Matteusz answered. “She is definitely Miss Quill’s daughter.”

“How so?” April asked, ready for some funny stories about the newborn.

“I fell down the stairs a couple weeks ago and both her and Quill laughed,” Charlie named one example. They all laughed at that one, part of it was because April was imagining little Andrea laugh, and the other was because of how irritated Charlie was while saying it. Matteusz was smiling as well. “I don’t think she likes me!” Charlie exclaimed, he actually seemed upset about it.

“I think she finds you amusing,” Mattuesz argued, patting his Charlie’s shoulder in an act of comfort, while also hiding his smile behind his hand. “She’s laughed at him a lot. If it makes you feel better, she really only likes Miss Quill. She cries whenever I hold her.”

“She tries to hit me whenever I hold her,” Charlie complained. “And she does it while laughing!”

They all laughed harder at Charlie’s outrageous tone. “Do not be offended, she is only a baby,” Matteusz comforted Charlie, wrapping his arms around the alien’s waist.

“Hush,” Madock commanded, holding his hand up. They all fell silent. Madock and Grendel were glancing around the forest and the rest of them did the same as well. She had no idea what they were looking for. “Could’ve sworn that I heard something.”

“Same here,” Grendel grunted.

“I swear to God, if we get trapped in another net, I will be pissed,” Tanya whispered to her. She nodded her head in agreement. That wasn’t exactly pleasant.

They heard a snap somewhere off to their side. Their heads whirled around to see what was there, there wasn’t anything. April gripped her scimitar tightly, slowly and quietly pulling it out of it’s sheath. She noticed Ram reaching over his shoulder, fingers finding an arrow in the quiver. Charlie was gripping his sword as well.

It happened all at once. An arrow flew out from above the trees, thankfully missing the horse that it was aiming for, then people were shouting as they flew out from the trees, completely surrounding them. “Don’t move!” One of the men ordered. They didn’t move, but April kept her hand on the swords by her sides. “Dismount!” He ordered again. They obeyed.

A couple other guys dragged away their horses, and the eight of them gathered around in a tight circle. Most of them had swords, April realized. She could easily fight them, but she was really worried about the two archers that were in the group. If they were skilled enough, which they probably were, they could kill April from a distance. They were close so killing her wouldn’t be difficult. Thankfully, they had two archers as well: Ram and Madock. Possibly three, if you count Tanya throwing her dagger.

Ram still had his bow ready, just like how April was still holding onto the two scimitars by her sides. They were prepared. “Should we fight?” She asked in a hushed whisper, only loud enough for her friends to hear. Ram and Tanya nodded their heads, April’s back was facing the rest of the group so she couldn’t see what their response was.

“Drop your weapons,” Their leader commanded. April was not in the mood. This guy was irritating her. They ignored the command. He pulled his sword out of his sheath and held the point up to April’s throat. She looked eyes with the man for a daring second, face strong and defiant. His eyes were excited, which sickened April. They were happy and glad at the thought of killing her.

Ignoring his commands, she kicked him straight in the stomach. Without hesitation, Tanya threw her dagger straight at one of the bandit's shoulders. Ram aimed his arrow at one of the archers and hit his shoulder as well. The fight started between her friends and the bandits.

The leader flew back and quickly recovered, but April was already holding both scimitars up at the ready. Yeah, this was just like the Shadowkin. With one sword in front of her to block him from lunging and the other one raised high above her head, she sliced through the thin air and collided with her enemies sword. Then war began amongst the two. A violent dance to the death.

The sounds of their swords were shriek and loud as they continued to collide. Whenever she struck with one sword, he would quickly recover with another swing which she was able to block with the other scimitar. The swords connected and April circled them around until she disarmed the man. She held both swords up in an 'X' position, the blades crossed over at the tip of his throat. He stepped back until April had him pinned up against the tree.

"Stop!" She ordered the remained bandits. "If you don't then I will kill your leader!" That was probably a lie. April has never killed anyone. She hopes that she will never have to kill anyone. She just had to convince everyone that she would do it. They all stopped in their places. "Kneel," She commanded the leader and he obeyed. The swords remained pointed at his back as he turned around and kneeled.

"Now," She started, "drop your weapons." And the remaining men did. Without being ordered to, they kneeled. April lowered her swords and Charlie kicked away some of the swords that belonged to the bandits, getting them out of reach. She put one back in its sheath. She took Tanya's hand in hers and pulled her back towards their horse. "We will be going now, and you will not follow. You have seen what we are all capable so if you wish to live you will never cross us again."

Ram quickly picked up the archer's quivers. He dumped the arrows and out put them in his own quiver. Her friends mounted their horses then April followed. She mounted the horse, held onto Tanya, then they ran off, desperate to get away. They ran on horseback throughout the forest until they believed that they were far away. April occasionally glanced back, making sure that no one was at least attempting to follow them.

After another hour of riding, they slowed down by a lake. They let the horses drink while the eight of them sat down to eat.

"Were you really going to kill those guys?" Ram asked her, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"No," She answered, violently shaking her head. "I only needed them to believe that I would."

"You are hurt," Matteusz pointed out, looking down at Charlie's shirt. They all leaned forward to see what the Polish boy was looking at. Charlie stared down as well, completely oblivious to the injury that Matteusz was referring to. Through the thin slice of fabric of Charlie's shirt and jacket, they could see a bleeding cut.

"I didn't feel anything," He reassured them.

"Let me see it," Madock said, staring at Charlie. "Look, I know it's freezing but yer gonna need to take the jacket off."

Charlie did so and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. He continued to eat his sandwich while Madock looked at the cut. This was another moment when April remember that he was an alien Prince. He was completely unbothered by this, but he was completely overwhelmed by pop culture. Madock ripped off a strip of cloth from Charlie's shirt. Charlie looked more upset about the shirt than he did with his arm. The dwarf then wrapped it around the cut. "You can put your jacket back on." And Charlie did.

"Are there bandits throughout these forests?" April asked after swallowing a bite of her sandwich. She would like to be prepared if they were going to run into more of them.

Grendel nodded his head, "They could be anywhere, so keep your eyes open for them." She nodded her head. "You lot aren't as useless as I originally thought were."

"Thanks?" Tanya said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Grendel responded seriously, completely oblivious to her friend's sarcastic comment. April snorted at the response, slapping her hand over her face to muffle the laugh. She didn't know why she thought it was so funny. "When did you learn to fight like that?" Grendel asked her.

"It's a long story," She assured them, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her mouthful of food.

"Young lady, we got a lot of time," Grendel said. She looked at all her friends. They've talked about the Shadowkin since that day, but not so extensively. They've only mentioned them.

"A couple months ago," She started, breathing in deeply. She wanted to think carefully about what she wanted to say. "I was attacked by a species called the Shadowkin. They travel through shadows. Their leader, Corakinus, was there, and the weapon that I was using tied our hearts together so we had to share them. If he dies then I die." April didn't know it, but her hand subconsciously traveled up to her heart. She took in another deep breath, remembering that she can breath normally now. When she shared her heart with Corakinus, she was always falling short of breath, but not anymore. Ram ran his hand up and down her back, she loved him.

"We had a couple more run ins," She explained vaguely. "Eventually I traveled to their realm and me and Corakinus had a battle for the throne. I think I probably inhabited his skills or maybe I am just naturally good with scimitars. Either way, I won and became the King of the Shadowkin." She ended it there. The rest of the story was important to their lives but not necessary to the story that she was telling Grendel. To lighten the mood she said, "Incase you didn't hear the first time, I was a King."

"Was?" Grendel asked and her stomach sank. She didn't want to talk anymore for fear of what reaction her friends would have. She didn't want upset them. Grendel noticed the dreadful expressions that were written across the five teenagers young faces. "Forget I said anything." And she did. "You all did good out there, I was impressed. Where did you learn how to fight?" He glanced over at Charlie.

"I was a Prince," He stated and Grendel nodded his head. That was the end of that story.

"And you?" He asked Tanya.

"One of my teachers taught me," Her friend explained in a vague way.

After they ate they got back on their horses and continued their journey. They were wary of their surroundings now. At every sound, April's hand would jump to one of the scimitars that hung by her hip. They were hanging by her legs, constantly bouncing off of her limbs. They occasionally passed by other travelers.

At night, the five teenagers laid on the floor of the tiny tent that they were sleeping in. She was crammed between Ram and Tanya like the previous night. She rested her head on Ram's chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. "That was an eventful day," She sighed.

"Yep," They all agreed.

"How are you guys?" She asked the question from earlier that day. "Really, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine right now," Charlie answered first. Her friend sighed, "You know, some days are better than others. Other days..." He drifts off. "Other days are more difficult than others."

"Yeah," Tanya agreed. "Some days are good and they're easy to get through but some days are just rough."

"Sometimes it doesn't feel real, does it?" Ram asked. "Like maybe, one day we will wake up and everything will be a dream."

"Does that really happen?" Charlie asked, sitting up. Matteusz's hand came into view, gently squeezing Charlie's shoulders.

"No it does not," Matteusz gently pulled Charlie back until he was lying down again. "Sometimes us humans wish that certain things weren't real. We wish that it was a nightmare that are minds conjured up and maybe someday we will wake up and realize that it never happened."

"When did you get so poetic?" April asked, sitting up to look at Matteusz. The Polish boy shrugged his shoulders. She returned her head onto Ram's chest. "But it does feel like that sometimes. I mean, we know that many things are possible now but it occasionally feels like it shouldn't be real."

"I get what your saying," Charlie spoke up. "I had no idea that humans existed and you had no idea that Rhodians existed. We are around each almost everyday, but it sometimes feels like a strange possibility instead of the reality that it is."

"Now when did you get so poetic?" Tanya asked. She was laying between April and Charlie.

The alien boy shrugged his shoulders.

**xXx**

“Is that it?” Tanya yelled over the powerful wind. They stopped in their tracks as they examined the small stone house. The sun had disappeared from the sky, hiding behind the thick clouds that hovered only around the house. Even though they hadn’t moved, Tanya could tell that the closer you got to the house, the darker it was going to get. It was dark around them but she could see that an even darker ring that circled the house.

“That’s it,” She heard a reply. Her and April exchanged worried glances before proceeding towards the house on horseback.

“It’s kind of a typical witch house, don’t you think?” Tanya asked her friend. “It’s creepy. There’s smoke coming out of the chimney. It’s obviously old since moss and leaves are covering the house. It’s what you would think a witches house would look like.”  
“It’s definitely creepy,” April shrugged her shoulders. “I think I really only picture witch houses like the witch’s castle in the Wizard of Oz. Although, now that I think about it, that house does remind me of the witch’s house in Brave.”

“The tips of it look like the house in that Hansel and Gretel episode of Once Upon A Time,” She added. It was like a mixture of those two houses, except the house wasn’t located in a forest, just an empty field.

“It does!” April agreed. “Let’s hope that she isn’t like that witch.”

Tanya laughed. “Yeah, I mean even if she ism there is no way she can fool us into getting inside an oven. We’re too smart to fall for that. There's no way they could ever convince Charlie to get in an oven."

"True," April agreed. "Still, oven or no oven, let's hope that she won't want to kill any of us."

A loud crack of thunder echoed throughout the plain, scaring them and frightening their horses. Lights flashed as if there was a bolt of lightening, but yet, they saw none. "Dismount!" Madock yelled at them all. They all dismounted off of their horses. They followed the dwarves actions and lead their horses behind them by their reins.

Lights flashed around them again. They all abruptly stopped in their tracks once again. "What is this?" Tanya yelled, she swore that wind was picking up more speed. They were all staring fearfully ahead at the snowy plains which were now covered with mutated bodies and blood. So much blood. Those bodies weren't there before but now there were countless of them laying dead on the snow.

"The witch is testing us, or she doesn't want us here. She is trying to scare us away." Simon explained.

"So these bodies aren't real?" Ram asked. His voice was shaking. They've all seen bodies before. They have all seen people die before, but they are never seen anything like this. It was like a battle took place. A battle where no one won.

"They could be, you can never be sure," Grendel yelled in response to Ram's question. "These very well might be the people who came to bargain with her. Who knows what they are."

Her heart dropped at those words. Were their chances of surviving that slim? We're they wasting time by going on a journey that might be doomed? In the end, no matter how hard they fought not to, was one of them going to have to sacrifice themselves in order for the rest to get back home?

She slowly took a step forward. She slapped a hand over her mouth as blood oozed out of the ground beneath her. "Oh my gosh," She muttered to herself. Hey we're going to drown in blood to try and get to this witch. She lifted her eyes off the ground and kept her focus on the house. She needed to ignore the frightening details

She took another step forward, keeping her sights on the house and ignoring the gushing sound of blood. The sound level increased as everyone began to walk towards it with her. The sound of it was awful, she could feel her stomach twisting in fear and disgust. After a couple minutes of walking, the smell of blood began to make itself known to them. She wanted to throw up at the abominable smell.

The thunder continued to clap every few seconds, getting louder each time it did. The light was getting darker, making it seem like it was nightfall. It was a dark blue sky with no dim stars lighting it up. It was one solid color. She shivered and gagged when she felt something solid and lumpy underneath her foot. She knew that the only thing it could be was one of the bodies. She quickly adjusted her foot until she found a safe place on the ground then she put it down.

They were getting closer, she could see it, but it felt like they were never going to get there. Tanya desperately wanted escape from the blood, the bodies, the sounds, and the smell. It was overwhelming. It was terrifying. There was someone inside that house, someone who had more power and strength then all of them combined. They were smart. They’ve fought and defeated aliens, but Tanya was growing unsure if they could take this on. Yeah, it’s one person, but that person can wheel the power to destroy whatever and whoever they want. The Shadowkin wanted to destroy everything, and they would’ve succeeded had it not been for the Cabinet. Generations of souls was what defeated the entire race of Shadowkin, not them. They tried to fight them without having to use it but in the end it was the answer. Now, all they have to defeat a wit is five teenager, two dwarves, and a tiny badger.

The texture of the land got rougher. There was a small crunching sound beneath every step that was silenced by the overflowing of blood. She didn’t look down. She knew better. If she looked down, she would stop, thus delaying time to get inside that house. A house that she hoped was better than it’s exterior. She figured that it would be. She didn’t think that anyone would like living with this, but at the same time, anything could happen. If this witch was going to the extreme to scare them off, who knew what was in store for them inside that house.

The wind was picking up, blocking out all the other sounds around them but leaving a high-pitched whistle in their ears. She couldn’t hear anything but that whistle that came with every forceful gust of wind. It was becoming difficult to see, their only source of light was coming from the one window one the side of the eerie house. It was dim but it grew brighter as they got closer to it.

The whistle from the wind calmed down enough for them to hear Ram yell. She spun around and found Ram being held back by one of the mutated bodies. His dead, bloody hand was holding on tightly to leg. She rushed over, as did everyone else, and they tried to pull the hand off of Mattuesz, while Charlie wrapped his arms around Ram’s chest, pulling Ram in the opposite direction. Suddenly the hand let go, causing her, April, and Matteusz to fall back onto the bloody ground, and Charlie and Ram flew back in the opposite direction. They all scrambled off the ground as hands reached out to try and grab hold of them.

“You okay?” She yelled over at Ram and he nodded his head as he pulled Charlie up onto his feet. The bodies were coming to life, and they were faster than they imagine. Thunder shook then ground and lightening scared the horses, causing them to run away. “Shit!” She muttered to herself.

“Run!” She heard Madock order, and they all did. They ran as fast as they could, constantly stumbling over the bodies that were reaching for them. Tanya was having to kick them away with her foot. She could feel chaos brewing around her. The moans of the dead were loud and miserable, the thunder rumbled a sense of fear inside of her, and the wind began to sound like the anguished screams of the dead.

She kept running until she hit something. That something knocked her and all her friends down onto their backs. Then suddenly it all stopped. They weren’t on the plains anymore. The screams were still echoing in her ears but slowly it began to fade away. Her heart was racing, her chest was quickly rising up and down as she caught her breath. She rested her hand over her heart, feeling the beats begin to slow down now that she was resting.

She tried looking around to see her surroundings but it was pitch black. She couldn’t see anything. The window that was one the outside was not there on the inside. Maybe the witch casted a spell so it was the inside of the house was different. Kind of like the Tardis. She sat up, feeling dizzy for only a moment. “Can you guys see anything?” She whispered. She figured that they didn’t but just incase she asked.

“No,” Was the response from all of them. She felt around for someone else with both of her hands. She touched someone’s fingers. “Who’s hand is that?” She asked.

“Me,” April responded, clasping their hands together. She held onto to April as she tried to find some else. She used her other hand and moved it across the hard cold surface that they were all on top of. She felt something smooth beneath her finger, she moved it up, feeling the shape of the object and recognized it as a shoe.

“Who’s that?” She asked again.

“Me,” An unfamiliar voice answered. The room was instantaneously lit by fire, spreading onto the ceiling and other objects. They screamed in shock and fear. Fear of the fire, and shock because they weren’t prepared for what was to come. With the wave of the witch’s hand, she sent all of them flying back against the wall. They hit the firm wall with a thump and fell to their knees on the stone floor.

Tanya looked up at her. She kinda looked like Mila Kunis in The Great and Powerful Oz, except not green. Her outfit was short, it was black like a typical witch outfit, complete with a pointy hat! She was actually quite beautiful, just like Mila Kunis. Okay, Tanya needed to get her mind off of Mila Kunis, but this woman seriously bared some resemblance to her! Except this witch seemed far more threatening than Mila Kunis did that movie.

“Are you a witch?” Charlie asked, and Tanya rolled her eyes. Who else would she be? The witch narrowed her eyes at him. Her eyes moved away from Charlie and she glanced around at all of them.

She laughed at them. “You’re a bunch of children!” She exclaimed. She stepped forward towards Charlie, grabbing his face in her hand, squishing his cheeks. “You all have cute, little babyfaces.” She smirked and shoved Charlie backwards. “How did you get through that?”  
“We’ve been through worse,” April answered the rhetorical question. The wicked smile on her face fell quickly at her friend’s response. She rolled her eyes and turned around and began to stir whatever was in the large pot.

They all slowly stood up, weary of the small flames that remained on the ceiling. It was hot in the room, quickly becoming irritating. Tanya wanted to vomit at the sight of blood on her clothes. There was more than she initially thought there was. “Witch, these children need you to open a portal to send them back to their home.”

“How did they fall through?” She asked Grendel. He glared at them, expecting them to answer the question.

“We think that we fell through the crack,” Tanya spoke up.

“A crack?” She asked another question, her back still remaining to them.

“Through all of space and time,” Ram explained.

She was silent. She continued to stir whatever liquid was in the pot. “Will you open it for us?” Mattuesz questioned, breaking the silence.

“Of course, but what do I get in return?” She finally turned back around to face them. The pot continued to stir itself. It was like something that you would see in the Weasley household in Harry Potter. “How much are you willing to sacrifice to get back home?”

They were all silent, worried about what response she would have to their answer. They won’t sacrifice a life, so they shouldn’t answer with ‘anything’. “That depends,” April began cautiously. “What would you want from us?”

Her eyes skimmed over them again. She stepped forwards in Tanya’s direction. She instinctually walked backwards, adrenaline still flowing throughout her body. She stepped forward once more, reaching her hand out. April immediately pulled the scimitar’s out of it’s sheath and held the sword in front of Tanya, blocking the witch’s hand. “Tell us what you want, then we will think about striking up a bargain.” Tanya smirked to herself. April was totally a queen.

The wicked smile returned to the witch’s face. Although she was beautiful - breathtakingly beautiful - Tanya felt uncomfortable under her maniacal gaze. It was evil, clever, and unwavering, she could scare the bravest man/woman in the world. She may not defeat them, no she may not be as powerful as she seems, but she could cause them to lost all confidence. With that one expression, she could destroy a person. Tanya felt like she was being examined. She felt valued in the way that you would never want to be valued. All the witch was doing was staring at her and Tanya instantly felt like an object that was going to abused. Tanya could see it in her eyes, it was a twisted kind of happiness, and the Tanya felt sick at the sight.

“You shouldn’t point sharp things at people who are more powerful than you, deary,” She warned, voice sweet but dangerous all at the same time. Right then, April’s hand began to shake violently.

“What are you doing to me?” April’s voice was filled with fear. The sword began to move, towards April’s neck, the sharp point was ready to pierce the skin. Tanya wrapped her hands around April’s was tried to pull the sword back. The witch was going to have April kill herself.

“Stop it!” Tanya yelled. Her strength made no difference. Ram, Mattuesz, and Charlie helped, all desperately fighting against her strength. The witch was powerful. She had full control over April. Tanya picked at her friend’s fingers, releasing them from the sword one by one. She can’t stop April from stabbing herself, but this way she’ll only hit herself with her hand. Unpleasant? Yes. Deadly? No. She tore the scimitar out of the other girls’s hands, causing all of them to fall back.

“What do you want?” Charlie’s voice boomed throughout the small room, releasing his sword out of his sheath already. Tanya has only heard Charlie use that voice a few times. One of them being the time when he confronted the prisoner while that were trapped in detention. The witch laughed in response, it was loud, shrill, and the typical witch laughter that is heard in movies. He shoved the witch back, causing her to bump into the pot, and he held the very point of the sword up against her throat. “I will ask you one more time, what is your price?”

“I want her soul,” She pointed a thin finger in Tanya’s direction. “She’ll still be alive, of course.”

“But her soul will be left down here,” Ram finished, voice unhappy with the outcome. Ram, April, and Matteusz slowly stepped in front of Tanya, shielding her from the witch’s sight. “Why do you want it?”

The witch shrugged her shoulders. “I’m lonely,” She giggled. They all continued to stare at her and she rolled her eyes in an overdramatic manner. “I get bored. I make spells. I want to use the pieces of her pure soul for it.”

“Pieces?” Charlie asked. He was holding firm was well. He hadn’t moved, the sword remained on her throat, he was an unwavering force. It wasn’t had to forget that Charlie is an alien, sometimes it wasn’t hard to forget that he used to be a prince, too. The prince-like behavior came out every so often, but not as often as it used to.

“So you will tear my soul apart?” She questioned. She imagined that being torn apart would hurt like hell. “Why?”

“What do you do once you have failed? Try, try again. If I fail with one part of your soul I can simply try with another.”

“Would it hurt?” She asked. What would happen to her if she left her soul with a witch? Would she feel every tear that her soul endured? Would she feel pain whenever the spell was casted? And most importantly, could this witch control Tanya with her soul from another realm? She was not going to give up her freedom. She was not letting this witch control her.

“It would hurt more than anything you have ever and will ever experience.” That smile remained on her face, causing a shiver to run up her spine. Goosebumps were rising on her skin, despite the irritatingly warm temperature because of the burning ceiling. “You feel everything that I do to you. You will be alive, yes, but you won’t feel any other emotion or feeling except the pain that you endure here.”

“No, I won’t do it,” She said firmly, stepping forward in front of her friends. She looked at Ram who nodded in agreement. She was scared of what it would feel like. She didn’t want to become an empty shell of a human. Feeling is what keeps someone alive, even if it’s misery. Any emotion, whether good or bad, is a sign that you are still alive, and that is good. She wasn’t going to let anyone control her that way. Her life was once dictated by the Shadowkin. There was the constant fear of them. They killed Rachel, took Ram’s leg, controlled April, killed Ram’s dad and her mum, she had every reason to fear them and she did. After all that, even though it felt like she would never recover, she did. She did what Miss Quill said, she is facing her future with spite and defiance. No witch will stop her from doing that. No one is going to control the badass genius Tanya Adeola.

“Too bad,” She said. She shoved Charlie aside and launched forward at Tanya. Her hadn’t landed straight on her heart, suddenly a power surged throughout her body. She let out a blood curdling scream at the immense amount of pain. It hurt. She couldn’t describe the feeling. She had no idea what was happening to her. But just as quickly as it started, it was over. Tanya fell backwards and Matteusz caught her.

**xXx**

“Oh shit,” Ram muttered, looking down at the detached limb. He wanted to vomit at the sight of it. He saw his own leg for a moment. The memory of Corakinus flashed before his eyes. Ram looked over at Charlie’s sword. The silver blade was now stained with the witch’s black blood. Seconds after her hand connected with Tanya’s heart, Charlie took his sword and cut her arm off, completely breaking whatever bond was forming between Tanya and the witch. The witch opened her mouth and let out a screech, it didn’t sound like a scream, just a high-pitched piercing sound. They all covered their ears as her screams broke every glass object in the room.

“What have you done?” She cried, looking down at her detached arm that now laid flat on the ground. She looked up at Charlie, eyes wide with fury. Her eyes fluttered shut and she began chanting something. Ram bent down to check on Tanya.

“Tanya,” He gently patted her face. Her brow creased for a second before she moved her head. “Are you okay? How do you feel?” He asked, desperately wanting to make sure that the witch didn’t do anything to her, that she still had her soul.

She nodded her head, slowly opening her eyes. “I just feel a little dizzy. What happened?”

“We’ll explain later,” Charlie interjected. “We have to go. Can you walk?”

Tanya nodded again. He held Tanya’s hand and him and Matteusz helped her up onto her feet. Ignoring the witch who was still chanting something in a language that he didn’t understand, they walked towards the door. Once his hand was wrapped around the knob, the witch cried, “Kill them!” They had no idea who she was talking to so they all shrugged it off.

He opened the door and found the dead bodies from earlier, running towards them. “Ru!” He exclaimed, and they all did. They all ran towards the nearby forest, Ram kept his eye and Tanya, making sure that she was okay. Ram was running as fast as he could, limping occasionally on his prosthetic leg. He could hear the shouts and moans of the sprinting dead from behind. He didn’t look back for two reasons. One was because he did not want to see those disgusting bodies again. And two, for fear that he would find out how close they were behind him.

They were dodging the trees, occasionally slipping on the wet, muddy ground. Grendel fell a couple feet away from him. He turned and picked the dwarf up and they both continued running. He constantly glanced around at all his friends, making sure that they were all still alive, that none of them had fallen behind.

They were all running. Running so fast and so hard, or at least they were until they ran into a frozen river, well a frozen river that was melting. “What do we do?” He asked.

Simon stepped out first, patting the delicate ice with his foot first, making sure it was solid before stepping out onto it.

**xXx**

"Matteusz," Charlie clung to his hand, stopping him for one second. "I can't swim."

"Hold onto me." He held onto Charlie's hand tightly. The five of them stepped out onto the melting ice cautiously. He patted his foot around the ice, making sure that it was stable enough for both him and Charlie. He glanced to his side to see the two dwarves and badger and Ram, April, and Tanya doing the same thing.

He could hear the dead behind them. They were getting closer by the second. "We need to hurry!" Grendel shouted at them. He tried to. He took a large step forward and gently stepped on the ice. The two stumbled forward as the ice began to sink under their weight, drenching their feet. He quickly fell forward onto the ice in front of him and Charlie.

"Are you alright?" April yelled at them from the side. He nodded his head and slowly pulled his feet out from the water.

He could hear the ice beginning to crack underneath them. It was soon going to break. "We have to hurry!" He warned Charlie, pulling him up to his feet. He held onto his boyfriend's waist tightly, keeping him close in case they fell through. He knew that the water wouldn't be as cold as it was when the ice was over, but it still hasn't had a chance to warm up and could still possibly be freezing. There was also the chance that if they did fall through then Matteusz could lose Charlie somewhere in the river, or they get trapped underneath the ice that hasn't yet unfroze.

He could feel Charlie's hands holding on tightly to his jacket and shirt. They took a small, but quickstep forward. He heard the groans from the dead getting louder. He glanced over his shoulder to find them close to coming out of the forest.

They took a slightly larger step forward. He looked back over at their friends and found Tanya and Madock reaching the other side of it. Ram, April, and Grendel were only feet from land. Charlie and him were close but not as close as they were.

Their next step was when it happened. They stepped forward and the ice collapsed beneath them. Out of habit, he took a breath in before submerging into the icy water. He held onto to Charlie tightly with one arm as he tried to swim back to the surface with the other arm. Charlie was clinging to his arm firmly, not letting go. The water was still freezing. The ice was melting, yes, but the water had not yet changed with the weather. He pulled him and Charlie up to ice. One of his arms was grasping at the slippery surface. He could hear his friends yelling in the back but he couldn't make out what they were saying. The water was too cold to focus and he was too busy trying to keep his boyfriend from drowning.

Charlie grabbed at the ice as well, keeping himself afloat. He breathed in deeply before going back underwater. He gripped Charlie's legs and pushed him up and out of the water. He rose back up to the surface when he knew that both of his legs were out. He gasped for air as he floated in the water. Charlie grasped at his hands; slipping at first because they were wet but he eventually caught them.

Sometimes he completely forgot how strong Charlie was. His boyfriend began to pull him out of the water. He was half way out of the river when something snatched his leg and began to pull him back in. "Something's got me!" He yelled as it dragged him back into the freezing water. Charlie was still holding onto him but he was sliding across the ice in order to keep hold of him.

The creature that had his leg was stronger than Charlie. He was slowly submerging into the cold water. Charlie was trying to hold on but the creature would let go of him. He was holding his breath but it was becoming very hard to keep going. He was using energy to try to kick the creature off of him and the pain between being held by the creature and Charlie was quickly becoming excruciating.

Suddenly he felt something sharp dig into his leg, deep into his leg. He screamed underwater at the pain that was quickly growing worse and worse by the second, and let out what remaining air he had left. His hand slipped out of Charlie's and he creature began to drag him down. He only went down for a second before he heard a sharp, high-pitched scream. Something scratched his leg as it let him go, he would've screamed again if he had any air left, but he didn't and he quickly began to swim towards the surface.

He gasped for air when he rose up to the surface. He had drifted away from Charlie and the others when the creature took him down. They were all yelling for him on the land, they had pushed away some of the ice. He swam over as fast as he could. His jacket was heavy on his arms and his clothes were dragging along the water. He felt like he was going to drown. He was short of breath. He was freezing. He was slow. His leg hurt more than anything he has ever felt before.

He was within feet of them. His lungs were burning. His bones were exhausted and stiff because of the water, and the current of the river certainly wasn’t helping. When he reached the land he went limp, letting his friends drag him up out of the water. They pulled him in by his arms and legs. He collapsed on the cold, hard ground. He screamed as he felt something claw at his legs but it was quickly released.

He glanced up to find the creature on the ground. Dead. Grendel stood over the body of it with his sword and hand. The head of it was just a few feet away. It had the tentacles of an octopus but the upper half was human. It had long, black nails on its hands and razor sharp teeth in its mouth. Matteusz wondered which one was used to stab his leg.

He was being tugged. He could hear voices shouting at him. His ears were ringing from the change of pressure he endured underwater. Was he in shock? He didn't know. He has never learned what being in shock felt like. He’s had panic attacks before but he doesn’t know much about shock. He could hear Charlie's voice. Charlie was okay. He saved Charlie, or so he thought. Charlie sounded distressed.

"I'm going to take your shirt off, Matteusz," He was able to make out. He looked over and saw April talking to him. He nodded his head, not quite understanding what was happening. His jacket wasn't on. She lifted his arms above his head and his wet shirt was lifted off his body and quickly a dry, new one was put on. He was still shivering despite the new clothes.

"Matteusz, just look at April, okay?" He heard Tanya order him. He was lying down all of the sudden, when did that happen?

"This is going to hurt," He heard Charlie. He was farther away. April and Tanya were closer. Why was he far away? "I'm sorry," He heard Charlie say before the excruciating pain returned to his leg. He screamed at the pain. He wanted to stop. He desperately wanted it to stop. He tried to squirm away but he was being held down.

He didn't know how long it went on. It seemed to last for forever. Eventually the pain calmed down and his tears were beginning to slow down as well. "Matteusz," He heard Charlie say. He opened his eyes and found his boyfriend cupping his face. He was crying as well. "We're going to change your trousers, okay? Being in these wet clothes won't be good for you. Ram and I are going to hold you up and April and Tanya will change you into dry ones."

He slowly nodded his head, hearing but not understanding Charlie's words. His arms were held and up and he was lifted off the ground. "Don't step on your leg!" Charlie warned him. He couldn't tell if he was keeping his leg off the ground. He couldn't really feel anything anymore. He couldn't stop shaking he was so cold. He felt his legs being stripped of the wet pants and new ones were being pulled up to his hips.

He was being laid down again, except this time someone was holding him. It wasn't Charlie. He had to change into dry clothes as well. They both fell into the water. Soon he was forced to sit up and then this time Charlie sat underneath him and held Matteusz close. A hand cupped his jaw and he looked up at Charlie. He was whispering something but Matteusz was too out of it to listen. He heard other voices in the back. He couldn't make out what they were saying either.

 


	4. The Long and Interesting Journey, Part II.

Charlie shivered violently as he held Matteusz in his arms. He didn't know if it was from the cold or the fear. His boyfriend was passed out in his arms. He was breathing soundly like he was asleep. Charlie was sobbing and he was struggling to stop. He thought that he lost Mattuesz. Blood stained the water and he had lost his grip on him.

"Is he going to be okay?" He asked the two dwarves. Blood was soaking through the material that they wrapped around his leg.

“Yes,” Grendel sighed. Everyone collapsed on the ground, exhausted from the quick adrenaline rush. “Her blood should’ve prevented any venom from spreading throughout his body. He will live.”

Now he was sobbing with relief. He truly thought that he was gone. He thought that he had lost the man that he loved. He thought that he had lost the first and only person that he has ever loved. He thought that Matteusz was going to join the graveyard of people that he has loved and lost. In that moment, Charlie wanted nothing more than to die. It was a pain he couldn't bare.

He was going to be okay, that was the first time in months that Charlie has heard those words. Someone that he loved was going to be okay. Someone that he loved was going to live.

"When we set up camp, we will need to stitch up the gashes," Simon warned him calmly. "Wounds like those should not be kept open for long. It could get infected."

"We need to keep going," Grendel announced. "Those creatures could be nearby."

"How?" Tanya asked, voice boisterous and strong. "We were separated at the river! They knew that she was down there! They only left moments ago. If there was one Sea Witch in this area of river then there are bound to be more spread throughout it. If they are afraid to cross the river because of the possibility that they will cross paths with one of these things then they won't take the chance later."

"Perhaps," Grendel grunted, "But we cannot take that chance."

"And our friends need to rest!" April argued, fighting Grendel.

"And you will once we find camping ground! But we won't unless we move!" Grendel shouted. They all flinched at his voice. It was loud and echoed throughout the forest. They all fell silent at his words. Charlie continued to shiver violently as he recovered from the water.

His friends looked over at him, wondering what he wanted to do. He didn't know. He couldn't think he was so cold. The air was warmer but he was still shivering. Ram shrugged off the bag he was wearing on his shoulders. His friend fell to his knees as he rummaged through it. They all stared at him in curiosity. He pulled out the black coat that he got down at the market, only a couple days ago.

"Help me with Matteusz," He told Charlie. Ram pulled at Matteusz's arms and Charlie pushed at his boyfriend's back. His boyfriend mumbled something but neither of them could make it out. Ram wrapped the jacket around Matteusz's shoulders. "Help me get his arms in." They put them through the sleeves of the coat and Charlie let Matteusz fall back onto him.

Ram then proceeded to shrug his own jacket off his shoulders. He handed it out to Charlie, "I don't need it right now, mate." He accepted the jacket and put it on.

"We'll go," He declared to the rest of them. "But we won't travel far."

Him and Ram carried Matteusz while they all hiked the grounds for a campsite.

**xXx**

They were all sitting around a fire as they ate. They had already set up camp and stitched up Matteusz’s leg. The Polish boy was sleeping in a tent that wasn’t even five feet away from them. Charlie was sitting next to the tent incase Matteusz woke up. Both Charlie and Tanya were picking at their food, April observed. “How are you two feeling?”

“Better,” Tanya answered first. “My brain stills feel a bit fuzzy but that’s it. I’m pretty sure she didn’t get my soul, which is good. How did you guys stop her?”

“Charlie cut off her arm,” Ram explained. “I think it broke off whatever connection she was forming between the two of you.” Ram paused for a moment. “Are you really feeling better?”

“Yes!” She exclaimed. “I feel fine, I’m just tired. More happened today than I anticipated. I thought we were just going to walk in, either say yes or no to a deal, then walk out, but that obviously isn’t what happened.”

“You still need to eat.” April said the turned to Charlie. “Both of you do.” Charlie begrudgingly took a bite of his food. “How are you feeling, Charlie?” She asked next since he never responded.

“Better,” He answered, glancing over his shoulder at the tent. “I’m warmer now. Oh, here’s your jacket.” Charlie took off Ram’s jacket from earlier and handed it to him. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Ram responded, throwing his jacket on top of his bag. “How did you know cut of the witch’s arm?”

“I just figured it was the only way,” Was the response that they got. “I was worried about what hell would be unleashed on us if I cut off her head so I went straight to what was connecting them. Which was her arm.”

“Would you really be able to chop off her head?” Ram frowned in disgust at the idea. No one would’ve wanted to see a head rolling across the floor. No one wanted to see blood spill from both ends of the body. April hadn’t seen that happen until, and she never wants to see it again. She saw that Ram didn’t have a leg but she never saw it cut off.

“I’ve seen it happen before,” Charlie’s voice was firm. He looked down at his food, once again he took a bite of it with a stubborn, unpleased expression on his face. He was staring up at the starry night sky. April always wondered what the inside of Charlie’s head was like. Based off his personality, she figured that it would be a conflicting place. Once he finished eating his small bit of food, he spoke with the same from tone. The firm tone that withheld emotion. “Corakinus beheaded my mother on Rhodia. It was only a few moments before Quill and I met the Doctor.”

They all fell silent at the confession. Charlie didn’t give away too much information about Rhodia. Every once in a while he would say something that would give a hint about what kind of childhood that he had, but most of his life was one big question mark. April knew that Charlie’s mother was murdered but she didn’t know that she was beheaded.

“It would’ve been a disgusting thing to do and I would’ve hated doing it but I know that I have the stomach for it,” Charlie added after a couple minutes of silence. “Are you sure you’re feeling better?” Charlie asked Tanya.

“I’m sure,” She answered the question one more time. “I feel everything so I think I’m good. I just want to lay down.”  
“Me too,” They all agreed.

**xXx**

Matteusz moaned at the sick feeling he was enduring. He whined at the heat and clawed at his chest. He slowly tried to push himself up, he needed his shirt off. His skin was on fire. He had a gut wrenching feeling in his stomach that wanted out. He could feel a bile rising in his throat. He opened up the curtains to the tent and threw up into the grass. His body was shaking violently as the contents exited his stomach.

"Matteusz!" Charlie exclaimed from behind him. He heard all of the voices of his friends. Once he had finished vomiting onto the ground, his friends pulled him back into the tent. He ripped the shirt off his body, desperate to escape the heat.

"Bloody hell," He heard Madock say. He felt a cold hand on his forehead and he shivered. He cracked open his eyes to see the two dwarves and badger, his friends, and his boyfriend all circling him inside the tent with worried expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong with me?" He whimpered. "What happened?" His head was pounding. He tried to remember what happened but it hurt to think.

"We were crossing the river but we fell through the ice and a sea witch grabbed hold of you. She scratched and bit into your leg and tried to drown you. Madock shot the sea witch and we got you out of the water." Charlie was gently carding his fingers through his hair as he explained the story. His eyes were red, tired, and glassy. He was upset. He could feel movement down towards his leg. He was going to take a look at what was happening but Charlie cupped his face in hands. "I need you to look at me, okay?" He whispered in a voice that was shaking. A tear slipped out of his boyfriend's eye.

"What is happening?" He asked, wincing at the pain in his leg. "Charlie, it hurts," He cried weakly.

"I know, I'm so sorry, Matteusz," Charlie said. His voice was quiet but it was shaking. Tears were falling from his eyes. "What's happening to him? I thought we stopped the poison.“ Charlie asked, glancing around at everyone else.

“We did,” Madock said sternly. the pressure was lifted off his leg and he let out a sigh of relief. “The wound shouldn’t be infected. I believe he must be sick. He is weak and vulnerable, it is the only logical explanation I can think of.”

“He is sweating enough,” He heard Simon say. “He will most likely break his fever tonight.”

The two dwarves and badger left the tent. Charlie wiped the tears off his face. “What did he do to my leg?” He asked. He glanced down at his body and realized that he was wearing nothing but his underwear, so was Charlie.

"I was told that body heat was a quicker way to warm you up," Charlie whispered in his ear. He must've seen Matteusz's confused face.

“He was prodding at the teeth marks,” Tanya started to explain. “Sea witches have venomous teeth so he was making sure that the poison she injected into you was not spreading.”

“Is not spreading, correct?”

“No, Grendel knew how to stop it,” Ram answered.

He felt arms wrap around his chest. He cracked open his eyes to see Charlie holding him. The rest of the group lied back down. “How did he stop it?”

“He killed the witch that bit you,” April whispered in the dark. “The blood of a sea witch can counter the effect of its venom.”

"Is my leg bad?" He asked next, rolling over and resting his head on Charlie's chest.

"Not as bad as before," He answered. "We set up camp, you were unconscious, so Grendel took the opportunity to stitch up the gashes. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," He mumbled, resting his head on Charlie's chest. "Am tired."

"Go back to sleep," Charlie whispered, drawing pictures on Matteusz's arm. He always liked it when he did that. He could feel his mind drifting away at the touch, slowly falling asleep.

**xXx**

Charlie held Matteusz close to him, helping him stand up on his one foot. The sun was rising in the distance, turning the dark night sky purple and pink. Everyone else was asleep in the tent. They exchanged glances before they spoke up to the two dwarves and badger.

“Thank you for saving me yesterday,” Matteusz said first. His voice was rough and he sounded tired. Charlie wanted him to go back to sleep but his boyfriend’s stomach was upset so they decided to thank them now.

He tightened his grip around Matteusz’s waist. He cleared his throat. He could easily thank the three of them a million times but he was still upset over the previous day's events. He didn’t want to let go of Matteusz because he was afraid that if he did he would slip away again. “Thank you for saving him,” He whispered softly, blinking away the petrifying memory. “Thank you so much,” He repeated, feeling his emotions begin to rise of to the surface.

“You’re welcome,” Grendel grunted. Everyone agreed that Grendel was probably a really nice man who was buried underneath a grumpy exterior.

“Welcome,” Madock and Simon said simultaneously.

They got back in the tent and laid back down. He wrapped his arms around the other boy, bringing them closer together. He kissed Matteusz's shoulder then quickly rested his head against his neck. "You okay?" Matteusz asked, turning his head to look at Charlie.

"I thought I lost you," He whispered, clinging to Matteusz. "There was blood, so much blood, and I couldn't see you. I thought you were gone, and it hurt so much. It hurt so much that I thought I might die from it.” He breathed in deeply, calming himself down. "It was one of the worst feelings in the world."

"I am here," Matteusz reassured him, turning over so he can wrap on arm around Charlie. "I am here."

**xXx**

Ram took a bite from his apple and stared up at the tall trees. His legs were stretched out int front of him and he was resting his back against the rough bark of a tree. They were sitting in a circle in the middle of the forest, eating their lunch and taking a break from their exhausting trip. Madock, Grendel, and Simon were hiking through the forest, trying to find a hint of civilization nearby so they could get more food, clothing, or maybe a couple of horses. Ram wasn't quite sure.

Ram no longer knew what to think of this journey. Was it going to be a waste? They've only met one witch, but within that one visit, she tried to kill them, then she sent a pack of wolves out to kill them, then they had to cross a melting river that contained Sea Witches below and Matteusz was almost killed by one of them. If every single visit is going to be like this, then is it really worth it? Ram wants to get home more than anything, but what is the point of trying to get back home if he's going to be killed?

He knew what contents this world contained but he hadn't quite gripped the concept of how magical and dangerous it was until a day ago when he witnessed it with his own eyes. There was so much more to it. It was beautiful and terrifying, unlike any other world he has ever seen. The Shadowkin's realm was just terrifying, he was too frightened to call ii beautiful.

“How are you feeling?” Charlie asked Matteusz. He glanced over at the Polish boy who was slowly eating away at his food. He couldn’t walk on his foot so him and Charlie were having to carry him. Ram didn’t really mind but now his shoulder was bugging him.

“Better,” Matteusz answered, voice tired and quiet. “What did my leg look like? Before it was stitched up.”

Tanya hesitantly reached over and gestured to his leg. “There’s a circle of bite marks right here,” She pointed with her finger. “When we pulled you out of the water, she grabbed hold of you - and she had some seriously sharp claws - and she scratched you, so there are gashes across your leg from them.”

"Okay," Matteusz calmly said, like he was completely unbothered by the fact that a Sea Witch tried to kill him.

They all let out loud, but not over dramatic, sigh. They all had the same reasoning behind it. They were all exhausted, sore, lost, one of them was sick and injured, and the were all frightened of what else they might stumble upon. He had just gotten used to the idea of aliens. There was no stopping them not matter what they tried, but not they were in Ouranós, a world that contains magic-like possibilities that none of them have seen. Magic-like possibilities is not as wonderful as he thought it would be. Instead it seems to be a substance for only evil in this world. Witches are downright bitches.

"Well," April started, glancing up at the sky and around the forest. "At least we have warm weather."

"Yeah," They all agreed in unenthusiastic mumble. It was true. The weather was nice, but he could slowly feel himself growing more irritated by the second, and warm weather wasn't going to change anything.

"Should we take a break? Like in some village if we find one?" He finally asked. "I want to keep going, I really do, but we're all exhausted! We've been walking on foot ever since those bandits scared off our horses! We were almost killed by wolves! We're running out food." He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. "And besides, Matteusz is sick and can't walk on his leg, so shouldn't we wait until he's better so we can cover more ground?"

They were all silent to outburst. They were all glancing around at one another. Yeah, he was irritated. It wasn't hard not to be. They all agreed to his idea. Ram wasn't exactly surprised but he honestly thought that they would at least talk it over. His guess is that everyone is as tired and fed up as he was. He stood, brushing off the dirt on his clothes. “I’ll go find them and let them know.”

“I’ll go with you,” Tanya volunteered.

“Nah, it’s fine. You should get some rest before we start hiking again.” She rolled her eyes and stood up anyway, ignoring his wish. She carried her food in her hands as she walked alongside him. “We’ll be back in a few minutes!” He yelled back at all of them.

“You okay?” Tanya asked, squeezing a piece of her sandwich off and tossing it into her mouth.

“Yeah,” He nodded, which was true. He was fine, just exhausted. “Just tired that’s all. Are you okay?” He asked again, knowing that he was going to get an irritated response. He’s asked her that question at least 500 times since yesterday. He just wants to make sure that she’s good! The scream she let out when the witch attacked her yesterday almost gave Ram a heart attack. Fear flooded his body at the sound, he thought that he’d lost her, he thought that she was gone.

“Yes, I’m fine, Ram!” She ensured him one last time. “Really I am. Charlie got to her before she could do anything. I think right then all she was doing was starting the bond between us. I don’t think she had enough time to actually do an damage to my soul.” She took another bite of her sandwich. “Please stop asking me that question.”  
“Alright,” He agreed. “Just let me know if something’s up, okay?”

“Okay,” She agreed. They were silent for only a couple of seconds before Tanya spoke up again. “Did you think that the Sea Witch looked like an uglier version of Ursela from The Little Mermaid? Matteusz and I thought it did.”

He gave her a bewildered expression. When did this conversation even happen? “I guess? What kind of a question is that? Matteusz gets attacked by a Sea Witch and you guys talk about whether or not it looked like Ursela?”

“I think he was just trying to lighten up the mood,” She interjected, handing him a small piece of her sandwich. “But I also thought it was an accurate description. This place is practically a mix of Disney movies and the Narnia books, just a shitload scarier.”  
Ram swears that if he hears one more comparison to Narnia, he might just lose it. For once, he was wishing for someone to reference Lord of the Rings, or something like that. He didn’t love this movies like his dad did but he preferred them over Narnia. He definitely preferred them over The Little Mermaid. That movie was cute, but seriously? How the hell was that referenced more than the Lord of Rings?

"You have seen The Little Mermaid, right?" She asked him. He rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "Seriously? When?" She asked, giggling uncontrollably. She playfully punched his arm. "I can't imagine you watching it."

"I only watched it when I was little. Or at least, that was the only time I watched it willingly. A couple teachers showed it during class, so I had no choice but to watch it."

"You never have to watch a movie, Ram, you can simply just ignore," Tanya teased him with a smile on her face. "You like that movie!"

"Shut up!" He said, covering up his smile.

**xXx**

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Charlie covered Matteusz’s hand with his own. He nodded his head, unable to talk with the food in his mouth. He chewed it quickly and swallowed it.

“Am fine,” He reassured. “Just tired. I want to take a nap.” Charlie pulled him in close and he rested his head on the aliens chest. He let his eyes shut for a moment, resting for only a couple of minutes, but not long enough for him to fall asleep. He knew that once he fell asleep he would want to stay asleep, so it was better for everyone he stayed awake longer.

“Hopefully they can find a town nearby so we can get some rest,” April comforted.

"Maybe," He muttered, forcing himself to open his eyes. This place looked exactly like Narnia in the movies after the snow melted. There were flowers were blooming on the ground around them and up in the trees as well. It was a beautiful sight. Matteusz wished he was more focused and awake to appreciate it. He wish he had a picture to capture this moment. "You should draw this someday," He suggested to his artistic boyfriend.

"Draw what?" Charlie asked with a mouthful of food. He laughed and wrapped his arm around his boyfriend. Charlie doesn't draw as much as he used too, or at least, he doesn't show Matteusz his work. He wishes that he did. He has always loved seeing Charlie's work, he is quite talented.

"This," He pointed up at the trees. "Is very beautiful. You should draw it so we can always remember it."

"If you want me to, I will," Charlie smiled, mouth puffy with food. He smiled at him too, but he didn't want Charlie to draw for him. He wanted Charlie to draw for himself, to fulfill his own desire. He knew he couldn't make Charlie want do that, he couldn't and didn't want to make Charlie do anything unless he was ready, but he hoped that eventually he would have the desire to draw again. But if Charlie was willing to draw a beautiful landscape for him, he will take it. It is still progress.

"Really?" Charlie nodded his head, swallowing his food. "Then I would like that very much." He kissed Charlie's cheek.

"They found a town!" They all heard Tanya yell as she ran to them. Ram was following closely behind with Grendel, Madock, and Simon.

**xXx**

The town was strangely wonderful, April decided. It was filled with creatures they hadn't seen yet or heard of. It was decorated like the kingdom in Tangled. Hell, it looked like it was based off of Tangled. The sun was shining down brightly, everyone was smiling, festive flowers decorated the walls. Lanterns gracefully floated in the skies or hung from strings. Either way, it all had a way of making April feel happy. It was crowded, making their trip a bit confusing and overwhelming, but it was an extravagant sight.

“Don’t you think it looks like the kingdom in Tangled?” She asked her friends.

“Oh my god, if you guys make one more Disney reference I might literally lose my mind,” Ram groaned from behind her. She laughed and turned around to look at him. He had one of Matteusz’s arms draped around his shoulders, Charlie was in the same position on the opposite side, and they were both carrying Matteusz.

“It totally looks like the kingdom in Tangled!” Tanya exclaimed from beside her. “And stop whining about Disney!” She snapped at Ram. “Charlie, have you seen Tangled?”

“No,” He grunted. “We just watched The Little Mermaid this past week, we haven’t had much time to watch anything else.”

“We’ll get to it eventually,” Matteusz reassured them.

“You lot wait here, maybe rest for a couple of minutes,” Grendel told them before leaving with Madock. They sat down on the stone ground, resting their backs up against the wall.

“Is this place always decorated like this?” April asked Simon, who was sitting across from them. She still couldn’t believe that she was talking to an animal. There were so many animals around the town square, all conversing with one another. This was normal for them. April knew that she still had more to learn about aliens and space, and all the wonders and horrors that they had, but she never would’ve believed that talking animals would’ve been possible. This was something that every child dreamed of when they where younger. Everyone wanted animals to talk. Sometimes children felt better in confiding with animals than they did with people, and it was always disappointing when no comforting words were said in response.

“I do not think so, I believe they are having a celebration,” Simon answered her question. He was always sounded so calm and wise. “I overheard earlier that a festival will be held tonight.”

“What are they celebrating?” Was her next question. She liked the sound of a festival. Perhaps she could get a redo for the disaster that was prom. Maybe she could go with Ram to the festival. The decorations were beautiful and clearly everyone was excited for whatever they were celebrating.

“Being alive,” Simon answered.

April had a broad idea of what answers she would receive, and the response she got was not the one she had in mind. She was grateful for being alive. She died once, it was painful, and thankfully a soul from the Cabinet brought her back to life. She was happy to be breathing. She was happy to see her mum again. She was happy to be with friends. Even though she was grateful and happy, she never felt like that was a reason to celebrate.

It's a good thing, being alive. It's great, but after everything that has happened to them, it's a conflicting topic. They should celebrate because they've made it this far, but on the other hand, there is a shit ton of aliens out to kill them and the ones they love in another world. At the end of the day, she is thankful that they all made it out alive, but she wishes that she didn't have to be thankful for something like that. She loves her friends but she shouldn't have to thank whatever spirit out there for keeping her, her family, and her friends alive whenever there is an alien invasion.

They should celebrate for the hell of it. They should have a good night because they deserve one. "Wanna go to the festival?" She asked them all.

"Sure, after I take a nap first," Tanya agreed, resting her head on April's shoulder. They all agreed with that statement. April needed to rest for awhile, they all did.

"I'll go," Ram announced.

They all looked over at Charlie and Matteusz. The two exchanged glances with one another. "We'll see," Charlie answered. She understood, Matteusz needed rest and Charlie was most likely going to stay with him.

Yes, tonight she wanted to celebrate, not exactly because she was alive, but because she has still managed to overcome everything. They had managed to overcome everything. They are all still in pain. Some days it hurt like a bitch but they're strong and they are still fighting. They shouldn't celebrate because an alien didn't kill them, they were going to celebrate because they owed it to themselves to enjoy a wonderful night. Even if they're not together at this festival, she has a feeling that tonight is going to be a good night.

**xXx**

Matteusz slowly cracked open his eyes. He found Charlie sitting next to him in the bed with that cute confused expression that Matteusz loved. He was holding an old book in his hands, flipping through the pages. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist. "What are you reading?" He adjusted his head, resting it on Charlie's chest so he could get a look at what he was reading.

"A book about the creatures here," Charlie answered, combing his fingers through Matteusz's hair. He hummed at the pleasant feeling. He always loved it when Charlie did that. "It's quite fascinating. How are you feeling?" Charlie questioned, staring down at him.

"Better now that I've slept," He answered, burying his nose in Charlie's side. His boyfriend giggled and squirmed around. The sound of Charlie's laugh made his inside feel like they were melting, but in a good way. He has only heard Charlie laugh on a couple occasions, and he hasn't heard it since that day. He has seen him smile, but never laugh. He tickled him again, except with his fingers this time. Charlie laughed louder and jumped in the bed.

He stopped for a second, realizing that it was just the two of them. "Where is everyone?" He glanced around the room.

"They went to the festival," Charlie answered.

"You didn't go?" He questioned.

"No," Charlie shook his head. "I wanted to be here when you woke up. And I wanted to make sure that you were feeling better."

Matteusz smiled up at him and Charlie smiled back. He sat up next to the alien in the bed and laced their fingers together. "Remind me to teach you how to swim when we get back," He poked his boyfriend's ribs, getting another giggle out of him. They leaned in close, resting their foreheads against one another. "How are you?"

Charlie gave him a small smile. "I'm good," He answered softly. "Or at least, right now I am."

He cupped Charlie's face in his hands. "Can I kiss you?" He asked nervously. Him and Charlie have kissed since that day but it's almost always Charlie who initiates it. They haven't done more than a quick peck on the lips. If he was going to kiss Charlie, he wanted to make sure that his boyfriend was okay with it.

"Yes," Charlie answered. He tilted his boyfriend's head back and pressed their lips together. Their lips move together in a sweet kiss. It lasted longer than most of their kisses. He pulled Charlie in closer by his shoulders. He smiled into the kiss as he felt hands touch his face.

He squeezed his fingers around Charlie's sides and his boyfriend yelped and jumped away with a giggle. He did it again and Charlie's laughs got a bit louder. His boyfriend squirmed away to the end of the bed and covered his smiling face with his hands.

He adjusted himself at the end of the bed so he was lying next to Charlie again. His hands went to Charlie's stomach and his boyfriend shrieked and laughed once more, "Stop!" He pleaded, with a bright smile on his face.

"Why?" He chuckled, rolling on top of Charlie. "Do you not like it when I tickle you? I had no idea that you were so ticklish."

"Neither did I." Charlie smiled up at him. Matteusz leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. He tickled his stomach again and Charlie broke away and laughed. Matteusz loved his laugh. He wished he heard it more often, but he knew that he wouldn't, so he was going to savor the moment. "Stop it!" He shrieked again. Charlie covered his face.

Fear flooded throughout his body as he worried that he had upset his boyfriend. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to upset you." He was getting off of Charlie but his boyfriend caught his wrist in kept him in place.

Charlie cupped his face in his hands and kissed him. "I do not like my laugh," His boyfriend confessed, covering his face again.

Matteusz felt a big smile spread on his face. "That is why you do not like me tickling you? You do not like your laugh?" Charlie nodded his head. He rested his body on top of Charlie's body and carefully pulled his hands away. He laced their fingers together and pinned the blond boy's arms above his head. "Why do you not like your laugh?" Charlie shrugged. He kissed the tip of his boyfriend's nose then quickly pecked his lips. "I love your laugh."

Charlie blushed at his words. Matteusz ran his hand through Charlie's hair, it was longer, a bit shaggier, it wasn't the clean hairstyle that he once had, but Matteusz still liked it. His boyfriend stared down, breaking eye contact. Matteusz slowly leaned down, letting their noses touch and bump against one another, their eyes met again and then he kissed him. Charlie's hands drifted up to his shoulders, squeezing them tightly, pressing their bodies together. As the kiss continued, his boyfriend's hands eventually slid down his back, skimming over what little skin was revealed from Matteusz's shirt.

He cupped Charlie’s jaw, deepening the kiss. Charlie prodded at his mouth with his tongue and Matteusz's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Their mouths opened and they moaned as their tongues glided against one another. Charlie’s hands slid under his shirt and his fingers ghosted over the skin on his back. His hands found the bottom of Charlie’s shirt and slid them under, touching his stomach. The other boy shivered underneath his touch.

Charlie broke away from the kiss. "Do you want to?" He asked breathlessly, lips swollen from Matteusz biting and nipping at his lips.

"Do I want to do what?" Matteusz questioned in return, unsure of what Charlie was talking about.

"Have sex," Charlie answered the question with a innocent look on his face. Matteusz knew very few people who could talk about sex with that innocent of a face. It was adorable.

"Do you want to?" He asked in return, wanting to make sure that Charlie was comfortable.

“Yes,” Charlie answered. He stripped himself of his shirt and Charlie did the same.

Matteusz pressed his lips firmly on Charlie’s. He tilted his boyfriend’s head, giving himself better access. He smiled to himself as he heard Charlie moan beneath him. He moved down Charlie’s body and his boyfriend sat up, chasing his lips. His mouth traveled down to Charlie’s neck and began to suck at the skin below his ear, meanwhile, his hands traveled up his boyfriend’s thighs, gripping them tightly and spreading them apart. Charlie’s hands clawed at his shoulders, pressing their chests together. He found the button on Charlie’s trousers, and his boyfriend did the same to him.

They both shimmied out of their pants and Charlie tugged him back down onto the bed. He gripped Charlie’s thighs tightly as his boyfriend straddled his waist. Their lips met once more in a hot, sloppy kiss, hands groping one another. “Is your leg comfortable?” Charlie asked between kisses.

“Yes,” He replied.

“Good,” Charlie said before crashing their lips together.

**xXx**

There were loads of people dancing. Some people were dancing on the wooden floor of a rather large looking gazebo, others were running around the gazebo, either dancing or playing games, then a small number of people were playing instruments , bringing the party to life. Some of the villagers ran past them, throwing circles of flowers at them. Ram watched as April picked a couple off the ground. She placed one of the rings on top of Tanya’s head, one on top of her own, she held on out for Ram. He shook his head. “No, I am not wearing that,” He declared, stepping away from April. There was no way they were going to convince him to wear a flower crown. Nope. No, he was not going to do that.

“C’mon, Ram, please,” April begged, pouting her lips. Tanya joined in behind her and they both pouted.

He rolled his eyes, ”You two are ridiculous.”

“What?”Tanya said over dramatically. “Everyone is wearing them. Even Grendel and Madock are wearing them!”

Him and April glanced over at the to two dwarves and found them staring grumpily at the three of them with flower crowns sitting awkwardly on their heads. He turned his face away, hiding his smile because he knew it would make their frowns deepen. When he looked back at them they looked even grumpier and then a laugh forced itself out of Ram. “What?” Grendel grunted.

“Nothing,” Ram shrugged his shoulders. “You just don’t seem to really like them.”

They both shrugged their shoulders. “Ever thought that maybe we have this expression on all the time?” Madock asked. It’s true, they constantly had a grumpy, tired, or unpleasant expression on their face. Now it appeared more severe than usual. “Wear the damn flower crown,” Madock grunted before him, Grendel, and Simon walked away, disappearing into the crowd of people.

“You’re wearing the flower crown,” April declared.

“No I’m not,” He argued.

“Dude, you’re totally wearing the flower crown,” Tanya laughed, knowing that Ram was eventually going to give up. They both knew that he was going to give up and wear the stupid crown even though he didn’t want to. He reluctantly took the stupid crown and lazily placed it on his head.

“Yes!” The two girls cheered, giving each other a high-five. “Thank you,” April said, leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He smiled to himself and wrapped an arm around his waist.

“I’m going to go see if there’s any food here,” Tanya said awkwardly, slowly stepping away. He smiled at her and she nodded her head.

“Do you,” He started, feeling awkward and nervous. He held April’s hand in his, holding it up to the center of his chest. She looked up at him with a sweet smile. Ram loved her. She was kind, strong, smart, and beautiful. He’s never known anyone like April, granted he has never known anyone like his friends. They’re an interesting group. He stared down at his feet, embarrassed about how shy he was right now. “Do you wanna dance?” He blurted out.

April’s smile widened. “I would love to.”

She pulled up along until they were standing under the gazebo. They both stared at the others around them. There didn’t seem to be any steps. Everyone was just holding each other, jumping up and down, and spinning around like Jack and Rose in the Titanic when they went to a real party. Ram could do that. He held April close by placing his hand on her waist. Their hands remained laced together and she put her remaining hand on his shoulder. “Ready?” He asked, smiling.

“Yes!”

Then they joined the moving crowd, dancing randomly and poorly, but not caring at all. He would occasionally spin April around with his finger and she would do the same to him. He would bend his knees as he twirled around under the arch of her arm. They locked arms and skipped around, once again like the dance scene in Titanic, they skipped around like the silly teenagers that they were supposed to be. He was slightly dizzy, but he didn’t want to stop. He couldn’t remember the last time he had this much fun.

They laughed as they spun around in a tight circle, maintaining eye contact the entire time. His leg was a bit awkward a times, acting strange whenever he jumped in the air, but he didn't let it stop him from dancing with his girlfriend. He stumbled a couple of times, so did April, they were so horrible at this random dancing that it was hilarious. So many people were staring at them but Ram had no fucks to give. For once in such a long time, he was going to be the idiotic hooligan that he was supposed to be.

He assumed April was having a blast. The folk music that was being played was loud and festive, so he figured that she was appreciating the music. Yeah, she was rockin' out hard to it. He knew that she was loving the music. She was smiling, and oh what a beautiful smile she had. Her feet were keeping up with the steady beat of the music, Ram was trying to do the same, but he was not experienced in dance. He could slow dance but he couldn't do more than that.

"I love you," He whispered to her as they hopped around in a circle.

"I love you too!" She exclaimed loudly over the music. It was a wonder she heard him. He wrapped both arms around her waist and lifted her up off the ground. She leaned down, pressing their lips together in a sweet, blissful, gentle kiss. He spun them around in the center of the floor and she buried her face in his shoulder. He dropped her on her feet, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her once more.

"I really do love you, April MacLean," He said once more, wanting to make sure that she knew. It's been months since their time in detention, but Ram still recalls April's confession about not believing that his confession of love was true. Even though they have both confessed it multiple times since then and they both know that those words are true, he wanted to reassure her that those feelings were and are real. He has a feeling that those emotions will stick with him for a long time.

"And I love you, too, Ram Singh," She said softly. His heart always fluttered when he heard those words. Him and April aren't the couple that confess love every five minutes. They say it to each other in intimate moments. Moments such as sex, a date, or it can be as simple as one of them needing to hear those words. That has happened a couple times. It's the insecure parts of themselves that wants reassurance. It doesn't make the insecurity go away, but it's always nice to know that someone loves you or cares about you despite the flaws that you are insecure about. That love can be romantic or platonic.

Ram has often felt worthless. He struggles sometimes in school. He has made some, but not much, improvement in football. He's always so frustrated with himself whenever he fails. Fortunately, he has friends who will support him. Ram won't admit it, but he needs them. He cares about them even though sometimes it doesn't seem like he does. They need each other to get through this alien shit. They need each other to keep one another alive, and that can be during a fight with an alien, or it can be when they are driven mad with grief or pain, which happens every so often. They fight, they argue, but in the end they always return to one another. Friendships need to be strong enough so that you can argue but still remain close with one another. That's how strong their bonds are.

**xXx**

Tanya smiled to herself as she watched two of her friends dance on the floor. The music was festive and the decorations were beautiful. They put flower crowns on everyone at walked through the door, including Ram. She kind of felt like she would be made into a tumblr post. Tanya wished that her phone still had power so she could take a picture and capture that moment. Now Ram's profile picture was a image of him with a grumpy expression, wearing a flower crown.

Although she enjoyed the evening, Tanya was still upset about the witch. They traveled so far only to be met with disappointment. She understood that they all needed a night to rest. She understood that her friends wanted to have one night of fun, Tanya wanted that as well, but the thought of her brothers at home worrying about her whereabouts broke her heart. Now that they know about the aliens, they've been protective. They've always been protective, family is supposed to be protective over you, but now they're more intense about it. She gets it. She wouldn't like the idea of her brothers fighting monsters either, but unfortunately, aliens are going to keep coming through the crack and they are the only ones who can figure out how to stop it.

She wanted to go home. She needed to go home. She needed to get back to her grandmother and brothers. She also needed to get back to her studies. They all needed to get back to that, except her friends wouldn't mind missing work. They wouldn't mind until they come back to find that they have to catch up on a weeks worth of work. And then they all come to Tanya because they don't understand it.

She doesn't mind tutoring her friends. She enjoys it. It's just sometimes irritating when they don't pay attention in class. It's one thing if you don't understand the material but it's another thing when you don't pay attention. Tanya doesn't tutor Matteusz or April, she used to tutor April but that was when she was a Shadowkin and actually couldn't come to school. Ram and Charlie pay attention most of the time but other times they're so distracted and miss everything. She gets it, really she does. Ram sometimes gets frustrated and gives up. Charlie has anxiety and simply can't focus on the coursework. Once again, she gets it, but she is struggling as well. She can help clear the concept up for them but she hates having to teach a lesson again.

“You’re upset,” She heard a deep, slightly raspy, but soothing voice pipe up from her side. Tanya spun around and was met with green eyes. The girl was about her height. She had long, light brown hair, and it got lighter at the ends of her hair. At the ends, it almost appeared blond. She had fluffy bangs that hung right above her eyebrows. She was adorable, or breathtakingly beautiful, Tanya couldn’t make up her mind. “Or you hate people?” The girl made a contorted face as she tried to guess at what feelings Tanya was experiencing. The girl snapped her fingers, “Or you hate fun?”

Tanya shook her head, pulling herself together. “No, I’m just a bit distracted,” She told the other girl. She held her hand out for the girl to shake. “I’m Tanya.” She stared down at her hand, unsure of what she was supposed to do with it. “Oh, you shake it?” Tanya clarified. Her brows furrowed in confusion but eventually she shrugged her shoulders and accepted the gesture.

The girl shook their hands side to side instead of up and down, causing a laugh to bubble out of Tanya. A smile grew on the other girl’s face. Tanya changed the direction of their hands so they were now going up and down. “Why do you shake it?” She asked once their hands dropped to their sides.

“Adults do it when they introduce themselves,” She explained.

“You’re not from here are you?” She narrowed her eyes and a sneaky smile spread across her face. Was Tanya really that obvious.

“You’re not obvious,” The other girl blurted out. Tanya’s eyes widened, it was like she knew what she was thinking. “I actually do know what you’re thinking. Sorry!” She quickly apologized. She leaned forward an whispered. “I’m a witch. But not like a bad one! I don’t ask for memories, or a life, or a anything really…” She drifted off, biting down on her lip. “Although I really should start pricing people. I would have a lot more money if I did.”

Tanya just stood there, awkwardly gaping at the witch. That was a lot of information. “So you’re a witch?”  
“Yes. I know I’m a little young but my parent’s are both powerful. My mum was a witch and my father’s a warlock and their magical abilities passed down to me.” She explained. She seemed proud, like really proud of her abilities. “And sorry about hearing your thoughts. I can’t help that. I just hear what everyone is thinking.”

“Doesn’t that drive you mad?” Tanya asked, horrified at the idea of hearing what everyone was thinking. That would be overwhelming.

“No, I’ve spent my entire life like that. I’m used to it by now.” Tanya nodded her head. “But I came over here because I caught something that was floating around in that pretty head of yours.” Tanya blushed at the compliment. “You need a witch to get back home, don’t ya?”

“Yes,” She answered. “Wait, can you open a portal?” She asked urgently.  
“Yes!” The girl exclaimed proudly. “I could make one for you right if you wished for me to.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you,” She exclaimed, glancing around at the dance floor for her friends. “Can you send my friends back too?”

“Yeah,” She answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Tanya took her hand and stormed through the middle of the dance floor to get to Ram and April. She stopped them by placing her hand on Ram’s shoulder. Ram jumped but they both stopped. “This is…” Tanya began but quickly drfited off as she realized that the girl never told her her name.

“Adeline,” She finished.

“Adeline can open a portal for us,” Tanya continued.

“Seriously?” Ram asked. Adeline, such a pretty name, nodded her head.

“What’s your price?” April asked from behind Ram.

Adeline rose her finger up to her chin and her eyes stared up at the ceiling as she thought. “Hmmm….” She was tapping her foot on the floor. “I can’t think of one right now. Don’t worry, it won’t be anything drastic. Just something small. Or money, money is always great.”

“We can give you money,” Ram said. He turned to Tanya, “We need to get Charlie and Mattuesz.”

“I’ll get started on the portal,” Adeline let them know.

“I’ll go with you,” Tanya volunteered.

“I will too,” Grendel spoke up, circling around Ram and April to make himself noticeable.

“We will go with the others to make sure that they won’t get lost,” Madock said.

“Where can we find you?” April asked as she put her jacket back on.

Adeline took a napkin and wrote an address on it. “Meet us here and I shall send you home.”

**xXx**

“That was nice,” Charlie said with a smile on his face. He rested his head on Matteusz’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, reminding himself that he hasn’t lost him. He pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s breast and began to draw on his skin.

“Was very nice,” Mattuesz said warmly. Charlie smiled to himself as he heard the gleeful tone in his boyfriend’s voice.

Charlie often felt guilty for being with Mattuesz. He always thought that his boyfriend would be better off with someone else. Someone that was probably more human, or someone smarter, or happier, or normal, or more mentally stable, or someone who wasn’t ridden guilt. Mattuesz was a wonderful human being who deserved someone better than Charlie. He deserved more than life had given him. All of his friends deserved more than what they got. They had it better at one point, but Charlie ruined it. They may not blame him, or at least, they say they don’t blame him, but Charlie will never forgive himself.

But for once in such a long time, he was happy. Happiness made the guilt worse. He didn’t deserve to be happy. He slaughtered an entire race. He is the reason why his friends lives are a living hell. He’s the reason why Matteusz was kicked out of his family. He only causes pain. He doesn’t deserve Matteusz or his friends. The only reason why Charlie hasn’t separated himself from them is because he can’t bear the thought of being alone. He doesn’t think he could bear the pain of being alone. He has been alone for most of his life and he doesn’t want to return to that lonely feeling.

“What is wrong?” Matteusz asked worriedly, adjusting himself so they were face to face. “You are sad." His hand came up to Charlie's jaw but he shooed it away. He rubbed his eyes, feeling his eyes begin to sting with tears. He didn’t want to cry. He has cried so much these past months, for once he wants to have it together. He was so weak. He was so stupid! He can’t keep it together for one night!

"No, I'm happy," He argued weakly, sitting up. He was happy, at least he was a moment ago. This was the most joy he has felt in such a long time. But he was sad, too. "And I'm sad. But I'm happy, too. I haven't been this happy in such a long time."

Matteusz sat up next to him. "Tell me what is wrong," He pleaded gently. His eyes were soft and kind. Charlie always felt safe with him. He felt so many things when it came to Matteusz.

He wiped away the tears that were falling from his eyes. He breathed in deeply. He did that a couple times. "I don't deserve to be happy, do I?" His voice was shaky but he managed to make it sound clear and strong. It was moments like these when Charlie remembered that he used to be a prince. He was trained to talk in such a manner. It was installed in him at a young age. Even through his tears he could still make himself sound strong.

Matteusz's frowned deepened at the words. "What?"

His lip quivered as he collected the strength to explain. "I've killed so many people, Matteusz. So many," He repeated, tearing his gaze away from his boyfriend and staring at the opposite wall. "If I hadn't come here," He started slowly, "you all would've had much easier and happy lives."

"Charlie..." Matteusz started but Charlie felt like his words were vomit. He couldn't stop it now. It was pouring out of him uncontrollably. The joy that he felt earlier had faded away much faster than he wanted it to.

"You would still be living with your family," He stated his first point. "Ram would still have his dad and his, and Rachel would've lived if it weren't for me. Tanya would still have her mum. April never would've shared her heart with Corakinus and I never would've had to kill her." He buried his face in hands for a brief second, wanting so badly to stop being so annoying. Matteusz was probably annoyed with him for crying so often. "You know that everything traces back to me, admit it!"

Matteusz didn't say anything. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Charlie and held him close. A hand ran up and down his back in a soothing motion as Charlie cried. He wanted to stop. He wanted to stop feeling anything. Everything would be easier if he did. "I hate this feeling," He whimpered softly. "I deserve to feel this way but I can't stand it!"

He felt a kiss on his head. A hand cupped his jaw and lifted his head. "No one blames you," Matteusz said softly. "The Shadowkin did all of that, not you." Charlie didn't believe him. Matteusz gently pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. "You deserve to be happy, Charlie."

He still cried, not believing what his boyfriend said, but he didn't want the conversation to continue. "I'm sorry," He apologized. "You've been so wonderful these past few months, and I keep doing this!" He gestured to his wet, tear-stained face.

"Do not apologize." Matteusz's voice was quiet but stern. "Do not apologize for what you are feeling. You cannot help it. If you are upset, I want you to tell me. If you keep this bottled up then you might explode."

His eyes widened and his swears that his heart stopped for a second. "Can that happen?" His voice cracked in fear.

Matteusz gave him a small smile but it only lasted for a second. "Not literally, no." Charlie nodded as he understood. "You might just feel like you will. It's a human feeling. You might have an angry outburst, or something. Bottled up emotions do horrible things to everyone."

He nodded his head again. “I am happy,” He let Matteusz know. Even though he was crying, he was still somewhat happy. He was experiencing mixed emotions. He wiped away the tears and gave his boyfriend a smile. He was happy and he wanted to remember this moment as that. He didn’t want a good night like this one to blend in with every other night. “I just…” He started but drifted off.

“Is okay,” Matteusz promised him, cupping his face in his large hands so their eyes were locked in. “Talk to me, okay? Everything is much harder when you are alone, and I do not want you to be alone.”

A small smile grew on Charlie’s face as he heard those comforting words. He nodded his head, leaning in to rest his head in the crook of Matteusz’s neck. He wrapped his arms around his waist, while Matteusz held his head in one of his hands and the other arm was draped around Charlie’s back. “I love you,” He whispered softly in the night, like it was some secret. It wasn’t a secret, it was just three words that Charlie still isn’t used to declaring. Words that he never said to any before, words he believed that he would never say.

Mattuesz kissed his head and he smiled once more. “I love you, too.”

**xXx**

“So you’re mum’s a witch?” Tanya asked, sitting next to her in the small flat. They were just waiting for the others to arrive.

“She was, yes,” Adeline answered. “Many people fear witches. Because they fear us, they like to kill us. Unfortunately, my mother was one of the many lives that these hunters took. They didn’t care that she wasn’t evil. They found out what she was capable of and they made sure that she could never do anything ever again.”

“I'm sorry," She apologized. "And your dad?” She asked. Her stomach was getting upset. Her heart was clenching. She felt horrible for Adeline. That story was horrible. But now Tanya was stuck thinking about the death of her parent’s, more specifically, she was reliving the memory of her mother’s murder. She missed her parents so much. She wanted them back more than anything.

"He travels," She responded with a simple answer. "He doesn't stay away for more than a week. What about your parents?"

Her heart dropped at the question. "My dad passed away when I was twelve. My mum died this past year." She took in a deep breath. She didn't really plan on talking about that, especially with someone she barely knows. She has talked about it but usually it's with her brothers. Every once in a while she talks about it with the Bunghole group.

"I'm sorry," Adeline apologized, placing her hand on top of Tanya's. Her thumb stroked over her knuckles.

"I'll be okay," She mumbled, because eventually she would recover from this sickening feeling in her gut. "Let's change the subject."

“Where are you from?” Adeline changed the topic with a question. “I need to know where to send you guys.”

“I’m from a planet called Earth,” She answered. It felt terrible coming off of her tongue, it was awkward and weird. She never thought that she would ever have to clarify where she was from. She figured that that would always be the obvious answer. These people knew that there were other worlds out there, they just didn’t know what they were called or where they were located.

“I have no idea what that is,” Adeline laughed it off. “Come here,” Adeline gestured for her to come forwards with her hands. Tanya leaned forward and Adeline cupped her face in her hands. “You’re gonna feel a bit weird for a second.” Adeline closed her eyes and Tanya did the same.

She did feel something strange, she couldn’t describe it. Places on Earth flashed before her eyes. They were the places she has been to the most. Coal Hill, home, her new home with her grandma, and a couple of other places. She opened her eyes once the visions disappeared. “You know that big building? The one that said Coal Hill on the front? Can you take us there?”

“Yeah,” Adeline nodded. “I know where it is now. I took a sneak peek in your mind and found out where Earth was and some other locations.”

“We were passing Coal Hill when we fell through the crack,” She explained.

“What’s the crack?” Adeline asked.

“It’s a crack through all of space and time,” She explained further. “Aliens come through it all the time. It opened beneath us and took us through space, or that’s what we think happened. We figured that it can go both ways. There’s no other explanation for it.”

“Do you lot fight a lot of creatures from other worlds?” She asked, laying down on the ground.

“Yeah, more than we would like to.” She sighed and laid down next to her, arms brushing up against one another. “I want to stop fighting aliens, but at the same time, I’m worried what will happen if I do. With my friends, were stronger when we’re together, but none of us like what we’re doing. It’s completely fucked up our lives and I’m worried that it will do more damage if we keep doing it.”

“That makes sense,” Adeline nodded her head. “I love my powers but sometimes I wish I didn’t have them. On one hand, they’re what I have left of my mom, on the other hand, my abilities got my mother killed and one day the same might happen to me.”

Her heart hurt at the thought of Adeline being killed. They both lived in that constant fear. Tanya feared being killed by an alien, Adeline feared being murdered by someone in this world. Neither of them were quite sure if they wanted to continue with the cards that life gave them. They had their reasons for why the should continue, and they had their reasons to quit. Suddenly her chest felt lighter at the confession. Adeline gave her a small smile and then a smile grew on Tanya’s face as well. She liked Adeline.

**xXx**

April knocked on the door of Charlie and Matteusz's room. "Charlie! Matteusz! Tanya found a witch who can open the portal for us."

"What?!" She heard a high-pitched voice on the other side of the door. The door swung open, revealing both Charlie and Matteusz wrapped up in blankets from the bed, covering the lower halves of their bodies. Matteusz was resting most of his body weight on the smaller boy.

"Oh my gosh!" She laughed, covering up her mouth with her hand.

Charlie and Matteusz both flushed a deep shade of red. "We didn't have enough time to change," Matteusz mumbled slowly.

"We can see that," Ram retorted. "Tanya found a witch who is willing to open a portal for us. She can do it tonight! And the most she wants is money so go change!" The door slammed shut in front of their faces. They heard rustling and whispers beyond the door.

"I had fun tonight," She whispered to Ram, feeling uncomfortable with the thought of Madock or Simon listening in. It's not like they were going to say anything weird, it's just that April doesn't like knowing that people are listening in.

"Me too," He smiled at her. She pressed a kiss to his cheek and wrapped her arms around him, bringing him in close. He kissed her temple and she smiled to herself, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I love you, Ram," She whispered in his ear.

"I love you too," He replied.

The door opened and Charlie and Matteusz stepped out of the door, clothes hanging awkwardly on their bodies, hair standing up in different directions. "Let's go home," Ram said to the all. They walked down the hallway, and Ram kept his arm wrapped around her.

“Nice crown, by the way,’ Matteusz complimented them both. April giggled as Ram groaned irritatingly. They turned the corner in the hallway.

“Thank you, Matteusz,” April said, dodging her head so she could say it to his face.

**xXx**

Adeline pulled Tanya in a separate room, leaving Grendel outside in the main one. The room was tinier. It only held one small bed that was pressed up against the wall. “I’ve decided on a price,” Adeline whispered. “You feel free to decline. I won’t hold it against you. I’ll still open the portal for you, even if you don’t want to do it.”

“Okay…” Tanya nodded her head slowly, not sure why Adeline was so nervous.

“Can I kiss you?” Adeline blurted out. Her face blushed a very deep shade of red. “Sorry, I’ve never been kissed before so I have no idea how to ask that question. I like you. You’re really fucking gorgeous and wonderful, and even though you don’t live here and know everything about this place I can tell that you’re really fucking smart and -“

Overwhelmed by the nervous but excited butterflies in her stomach, Tanya cupped the other girl’s face inherited hands and kissed her. It was a bit weird. Neither of them have ever kissed anyone so they didn’t exactly know what they were doing. It made Tanya feel better knowing that Adeline was just as clueless as she was. The other girl’s hands fell to her waist and pulled her in closer. They broke apart for a second. “Let’s do that over again,” She whispered to Adeline

The witch nodded and leaned back in, gently pressing her lips against Tanya’s. Her lips were soft, sweet, and eager. Her fingers slid back on Adeline face, the tips of her fingers were in her hair. Their lips moved together in a slow motion, nothing was rushed, it was a sweet kiss. One that Tanya and Adeline were fumbling at, but they were giving it all they had had, and both enjoying it. She wanted to pour her emotions into this kiss. It was happy. Her stomach was fluttering with excitement as she had her first kiss. She shared her first kiss with the girl she liked. She liked Adeline, she was sweet, gorgeous, and gracious with the powerful abilities that she was gifted with.

She was attractive and Tanya was attracted to her. She has never really thought about her sexuality before. She has never really cared. She was open to anything. As long as she loved the person and they made her happy, and Tanya did the same thing for them, then she was open to anything. She had a crush on Adeline. They hadn’t known each other long enough for feelings of love to develop, but she knew that she liked her. She liked her in a romantic way, and maybe if they were in another world, or if they were given more time, those feelings would’ve developed into something more, but for right now it was a crush. A crush that Tanya was going to remember for the rest of her life, which is something that doesn’t happen to most people. How did she know that she would remember? Because Tanya was kissing a beautiful witch named Adeline in a magical world, it would be hard to forget that.

She smiled into this kiss, it was so sweet and Tanya loved it. She felt adored in that moment. She felt like a _person_ in that moment, not a baby sister. She hoped that she was causing the same emotions to run throughout Adeline’s veins. The kiss was long, longer than she expected, but she didn’t care. She wanted it to go one for a bit longer. Her skin tingled with excitement under Adeline’s fingers. She didn’t know if that was natural or because Adeline was magical, but she didn’t care, she liked how it felt. She deepened the kiss, exploring the other ways to kiss. Tanya was too young to really be interested in sex, but she found that she loved kissing. She loved kissing girls.

There heard a knock on the door and they slowly and unwillingly broke apart. "Was that good?" Adeline asked nervously.

She nodded her head, blushing at the sight of Adeline's bright smile. "By the way, if you wanted to kiss me, all you had to do was ask," She whispered to her. Tanya would've kissed her without the deal of getting back home. She had a feeling that Adeline was the same way. The price was just a ridiculous way to kiss her.

"We should probably go. That might be your friends."

"Yeah," She agreed. Before Adeline turned to open the door, Tanya leaned in one last time and pecked her lips. "Thank you," She whispered. "For everything."

"No problem," Adeline smiled at her once again. They opened the door and stepped out. Her friends were all waiting in the other room. "Are you guys ready for me to send you home?" They all nodded their heads. "Good."

It all happened fairly fast. Adeline's eyes fluttered shut as she chanted a phrase. After a couple minutes, the portal began to open. It looked like a portal on Once Upon a Time. It was swirling around in a circle. They could see the other side, it was Coal Hill. They were walking past it when the crack opened and they fell through. They would return to the place where they disappeared.

"Thank you for your help," Charlie thanked Grendel, Madock, and Simon. They all joined in on thanks.

"And thank you for opening the portal," Tanya thanked Adeline, placing her hand on his shoulder. The rest of the group joined in again.

"You're welcome," Adeline winked over at her. "By the way, you guys don't have to pay me. I'm just happy to help." The portal finished opening. "Now all you have to do is just through."

"On three?" Ram suggested. They all nodded their heads. "Okay, 1...2...3."

They all jumped in except for Tanya. She kissed Adeline and thanked her once more before jumping through. She landed only a few seconds after her friends. She looked up at the sky and watched as the portal closed. They all grunted as they got off the ground.

"What time is it?" Ram asked. They were still wearing the clothes that they wore in Ouranós, which led to strange looks from people passing by. They won't pay attention to aliens but they're going to judge five teenager who looked like they just got out of a renaissance fair?

"Let's go ask the guy in that store," April pointed to the store across the street.

They walked across the street and entered the store. They all approached the cashier. "Hello! Can you tell us what day and time it is?" Charlie asked, with that innocent clueless expression on his face. Maybe that's why he asked. He's always asking questions about obvious things. Him asking wouldn't be any different than usual.

The guy gave them a strange look. He gave them the answer and then they left. "So we've only been gone for a few minutes?" Matteusz confirmed with the rest of them, barely able to contain his smile. She couldn't believe that he was right about the time difference, and all because of Narnia! He picked Charlie up and plopped a big kiss on his lips. "Narnia was right!" He proclaimed and they all laughed.

They all went home after that. Tanya fell asleep, dreaming about a young witch who gave her her first kiss, and helped her get back home.

 


	5. Remind Me To Teach You How To Swim

“Why are you all here?” Charlie asked his friends as he nervously stared down at the bottom of the pool. It was deep. He had no idea if it was as deep as the river but he knew that it was deep. Mattuesz told the rest of them that he was going to teach Charlie how to swim and they decided to join. They had their swimsuits on, except Ram had a more complicated suit on. He was wearing something that resembled tights. Charlie figured that Ram didn’t want people to see his leg.

“Support,” Tanya answered cheerfully.

They all stood in a straight line alongside the edge of the pool. Matteusz stepped closer to him, lacing their fingers together. “After we jump in then we will swim down to the shallow,” Mattuesz informed him of his plan. “We are just starting down here so you know how much fun it is to jump in the water.”

“Wouldn’t I have the same amount of fun after I learned how to swim?” He asked, accidentally tightening his grip on Matteusz’s hand. He loosened his hand immediately, not wanting to injure his boyfriend’s hand.

“Probably,” Mattuesz answered. His boyfriend slipped his finger under Charlie’s chin, turning his head so they were facing one another. “Do not worry,” He said gently. “We will all jump in at the same time. I will not let go of you. Then I will carry you down to the shallow end. No one will let anything bad happen to you.” Mattuesz leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Ready?” Charlie heard Ram ask on his far right. Charlie nodded his head while the others gave a verbal response. He held on tightly to Mattuesz’s hand. “Okay. 1…” Ram started a count down.

“Two…” Everyone joined in. Charlie pinched his nose shut with his fingers. Mattuesz told him earlier that he could do that. “Three!”

Charlie breathed in before jumping into the water. He was still clinging to Mattuesz’s hand, desperate to hang on. Charlie felt a hand come around his waist, then suddenly he was being pulled to the surface. He blew air out, emptying his lungs as he rose to the surface. He gasped when he breathed n and he wiped away the water from his eyes. He was met with the bright, smiling face of Mattuesz. Charlie loved seeing him happy. He loved seeing all of his friends happy.

His boyfriend took Charlie’’s hands and wrapped them around his neck. Charlie’s hands fell onto Mattuesz’s shoulders and he held on tightly, and his boyfriend held onto his waist. Charlie continued to hold onto Matteusz as they swam to the shallow end.

“So, Charlie, what did you think of that?” April asked, swimming between Tanya and Ram.

“Was better than falling into a river,” He replied, trying to be amusing. His friends were much funnier than he was, although sometimes he did not understand their jokes because they would be about pop culture. He turned to Matteusz. “It’s colder than I was expecting.”

“Yes, some pools are not warm,” He agreed. “We can take a warm shower in the locker room when we’re done.”

That day they all taught Charlie how to swim. They started out with teaching him how to float in water. He found that he liked floating as long as no one threw one of those pool toys at his face. They floated around the pool for a while, just staring up at the ceiling of the pool. After that, Charlie learned how to keep himself afloat in the water. He wasn’t floating on the surface, he was learning how to paddle and keep his head out of the water. He improved his kicking and breathing as the day went on. By the end of the day, he was able to paddle to the other end of the pool.

Afterwards, they cleaned up in the locker room and then they all crammed into Ram’s car and went out to eat.

They went to some small Mexican restaurant that was near Coal Hill. The five children sat around in a booth. Charlie was on the outside, Matteusz was beside him, Tanya sat in the middle of them all, Ram sat next to Tanya, and April sat next to Ram. Charlie rested his head on Matteusz’s shoulders, feeling exhaustion beginning to sink in.

“You did good today,” Matteusz whispered, pressing a soft kiss to the top of his head.

“Can we go again?” He asked, feeling a strong need to improve.

“We can go whenever you want,” Matteusz replied, smiling down at him.

“Charlie, have you seen Harry Potter” Tanya asked, leaning over the table to look at him. Everyone stared at him, anxiously waiting for a reply. He shook his head no.

“What the hell, Mattuesz?” Ram explained, waving around his cup of coke. “You’ll show him The Little Mermaid but you haven’t shown him Harry Potter?!”

“Hey, The Little Mermaid is a good movie,” April argued, covering her mouth to hide the fact that she had food in it.

“Yeah but it’s not as good or important as Harry Potter is,” Ram gave his comeback.

“The Little Mermaid is important if you want to be a loyal Disney fan,” Tanya interjected in the conversation. Charlie stared blankly at them as they argued about something called Harry Potter. He enjoyed The Little Mermaid. Even though the movie was animated, Charlie still thought that most of the characters were attractive.

Charlie looked around at the friends that he considered family, they were laughing, bickering, and they were all happy. This, Charlie thought to himself, was the best day of his entire life.

When they finished, Ram drove them all home. Charlie and Matteusz stood on their front doorstep and waved to their friends as they drove away. The car turned the corner, disappearing from their sight, but Charlie stared at it for a moment longer, wanting to remember every detail of this very night. He turned to Matteusz, eyes watering with tears, but happy ones. "Are you okay?" Matteusz asked with a worried tone.

He hugged his boyfriend, burying his face into his boyfriend's chest. "I've never been happier."

Charlie is depressed, and on certain days he is suicidal, almost everyday was he is fighting to get through the day. While they were away, Charlie had his first good day in a long time. Today, he had the best day of his entire life. He hasn't been happy in so long and he has never been this happy in his entire life, and he was beyond terrified of losing that feeling. He knew that the feeling wasn't going to last. The inevitable feeling would return eventually. The past months have been dark and cloudy, and today was a rare blue, sunny sky. It was a rare event that he probably won't happen for again for a long time.

But while the sun was still shining, Charlie wanted to enjoy it. He wanted to memorize it, remember it, he never wanted to lose this memory. He held Matteusz close, smiling to himself. Charlie was going to keep fighting. He was going to fight for himself. He was going to fight for Matteusz. He was going to fight for everyone, including Quill and little Andrea. Quill doesn't need him, she never will, but he would like to tell her child stories of Rhodia. Like Quill told them all multiple times, he was going to face his future with defiance.

Matteusz cupped the back of his head, fingers running through his hair. He looked up at the taller boy and gave him a small smile. He rolled up on the tips of his toes and pressed his lips against his boyfriend's. It was a sweet, innocent, gentle kiss, one that only lasts for a few seconds. He smiled to himself.

"I've never been better."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated! The reason why Charlie's POV was so long was because my original intention was to write every chapter in a new POV, but I ended up ditching that after I wrote Charlie's POV. Every once in a while, the point of view will change to another member in the Bunghole group.


End file.
